The Beautiful Adventure
by GalaxianDragon
Summary: In the region of Kalos, Erica Tamashii strives to become a strong Pokémon Trainer. Because she doesn't like to travel alone, she pairs up with two veteran trainers, Brett Tairyoku and Keith Chiyoku. Along with the many trials of being a trainer, she will have to face off against the ambitious Team Flare. Read to find out how this tale folds out. Rated T for language.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I don't own Pokémon in any way. I play many of the games, but I don't own it.

Side Note: These characters are based off of avatars for X and Y that were used by me and my friends. So despite any appearances that may be similar to characters from the games, they are based entirely off the avatars. That is why they have different names.

"Speech"

'Thought'

_'Electronic sound_'

Dreams are amazing things that always start out tiny. But as we grow older, our dreams that we carry along drive us to amount to great feats.

In this strange world, there are many creatures that inhabit it called pokemon. Alongside pokemon, humans are able to reach new and amazing possibilities. Some people prefer to have pokemon as pets and friends, others like to know more about them, and then there are those who strive to become strong with pokemon.

A new adventure was about to begin in the far away region of Kalos. For one girl, she was about to start her journey.

In the small city of Vaniville town, a young girl slept peacefully in her bed...

"Fletch FLETCH!"

...until her mom's fletching woke her up with a tackle. Said girl fell to the floor on her back as the fletching landed on her bed.

"Thats not funny!" Yelled the girl. The tiny bird pokemon flew back downstairs, it almost sounded like it was laughing.

Erica Tamashii was a young girl, about thirteen years old. She had blonde hair that came down to her waist and gray eyes that went well with her medium skin tone.

Sighing, she walked over to her drawer and changed into her trainer outfit. A black shirt, pink hat, long red skirt, and a black shoe-knee sock combo to finish it.

"Alright. I guess it's time to start an adventure." She started to walk down to the stairs, and started to feel a little shaky.

'Not again.' Thought the blond as she continued to walk down the steps.

On a plane that was approaching the Kalos region. Some passengers were here to meet up with friends and relatives. But two boys were up to something else.

One of them was sleeping however. The one that slept had a purple shirt with blue jeans.

"You'll practically sleep through the end of the world." Said the other boy with brown hair, a red shirt, khaki shorts, and glasses.

'_Attention passengers, we will be landing shortly_.'

"Guess that means that I should wake you up."

But the other boy with black hair was too deep in sleep to hear him try to wake him up. Despite all the yelling. However, he couldn't withstand a punch to the face.

"Humanashumbadawhat?"

"Really Brett, you need to sleep some more at night."

"I can't help it. Saturday nights are when you stay up the latest." Said Brett while he shrugged his shoulders. Brett Tairyoku was a fifteen year old, with brown eyes, who was from the Johto region. His friend, Keith Chiyoku, was also fifteen with brown eyes and came from the Kanto region.

The other boy sighed in slight irritation at this. But something caught his eye. Outside the window, a flash of blue appeared for a mere second. The brown-haired boy tried to get a closer look.

"What did you see Keith?"

"Was it...Articuno?" Questioned Keith.

In a small city next to Vanville town, a group of kids were sitting around and talking about there upcoming adventures. Among them was Erica.

"And then we're gonna fight a legendary pokemon."

"Shauna, I don't think we will even encounter one of those." Said the boy with an orange afro.

"Well its better than what you'd do Trevor." Shauna stuck her tongue out.

"What about you Tierno?" Asked Erica to the boy wearing the Vanillite shirt.

"Well I'm gonna pursue my dance career."

They all smiled and laughed at each other's jokes before they decided that it was time to go and start their adventures. As Erica left she was given a container that contained three pokeballs.

"I think I'll take this one." She picked the pokeball that contained a frog.

"Oh, you must be a Froakie. I think I'll call you Jirai." The pokemon croaked in approval.

Erica started to feel nervous again. Although she hated to admit it, Erica didn't really like the thought of traveling alone. She was relying on traveling with one of her friends. But as she listened to their conversation earlier, she found that she really couldn't go through with any of their journeys.

She held a case that contained two other pokemon. And with them, two pokedexes. Erica was asked by professor Sycamore to give them to two other trainers. From what he had told her, they were foreign.

"The letter also says that they will be arriving here in about five minutes." Said Erica as she held up a letter.

This made her feel a little better, she had another chance to avoid traveling alone.

Meanwhile on a bus, Brett and Keith were hitching a ride to get to Aquacorde town.

"It's been a while since I had to rely on something besides a pokemon for transportation." Sighed Brett as he leaned back.

"Hey look at that. Some people are riding on pokemon." Pointed out Keith.

Out to the side, some people were on Rhyhorn and some people were riding on some kind of goat-pokemon.

"Cool. By the way, this is the girl that will give us the pokedexes and the starters." Said Brett as he held up a photo of a golden haired girl, she was holding a fletching in her right hand.

Keith stared at the picture for a couple of seconds.

"Isn't it odd?"

"What?" Asked Brett as he put the picture away.

"There is not one person with her in the picture." Noted Keith.

Brett looked back at it and noticed that there was indeed no other people with her. Sure, the picture wasn't too wide of a shot. But it did seem a little odd to the two of them.

They soon got off the bus as it continued on it's normal routes. Brett and Keith looked around before Keith noticed a blonde with a Froakie. He grabbed his friends shoulder for attention.

"Is that her?" Brett held up the picture.

"Yep that's her."

Erica was starting to think that these two guys were off doing some foreign crap. Her hope of traveling with others was all but gone.

"Come on Jirai." Her pokemon leaped onto her shoulder. Erica didn't want to admit to the fact that she felt scared of facing the world on her own. But it looked like she had no other option at this point. She looked down at her pokedex.

'At least I'll be with many pokemon.' Thought Erica, but that still didn't feel like it was enough to make her feel a hundred percent better. The blond thought back to the past about a young girl who was alone in a playground, holding a single trading card.

No sooner than that was she shaken out of her thoughts by a tap on the shoulder.

"Pardon me, but are you one of the people chosen by Sycamore?" Erica quickly turned around to see Keith as he held the photo.

'Wow...they seem kinda strange.' Thought Erica.

"Hello, I'm Brett and this is Keith." He extended his hand. However, Erica was thinking about him being odd.

She quickly realized that she was staring and reached out to shake the hand.

"Nice to meet you, I'm Erica Tamashii."

And this is where it begins.

Thanks for reading this chapter, hoped you liked it. Feel free to leave a guest review. In the next chapter, Erica will begin her training as a pokemon trainer. And if you need a better visual, Brett is based off of the male avatar if his hair is medium length and black, Keith is based off of the male avatar if his hair is short and brown (both are medium caucasian).


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I do not, in any way, own the pokemon franchise. If I did, we'd have Mega Nidoking.

"Speech"

'Thought'

'_Text'_

On this day, three pokemon trainers gathered in the Kalos region. Two had come to continue their adventures and become stronger. And one would begin to discover what greatness she would be able to achieve.

"I'm Erica Tamashii, nice to meet you." Greeted Erica as she shook Keith's hand.

"And to you." Said Keith as he shook her hand.

"I'm Keith Chiyoku. And this is my friend, Brett Tairyoku." Introduced the trainer.

Erica figured that by their appearance, both were fifteen years old. And they did seem foreign as they took in the sight of every pokemon that they saw.

"So you two are from different regions?" Asked Erica in suspicion.

"Yes we are, I'm from Kanto and Brett is from Johto." Noted Keith. Brett turned to her and nodded in approval.

Erica thought about that for a bit, those two regions were terribly far away from Kalos. They must've traveled a long way. She then held out a container with the pokeballs inside. Brett picked up the one on the right, and Keith picked the one on the left. They each pointed the pokeballs to the ground, releasing the starters. Fennekin for Brett and Chespin for Keith.

The grass starter instantly went for Keith and started to cuddle at his leg, which made him very nervous at this sudden pokemon's affection.

"Is this one a girl?" Asked Keith.

"Then I guess that means your my partner. I think I'll call you Kyu." Said Brett as he leaned down to the pokemon.

The pokemon crawled up his shoulder and nuzzled his face.

"That one is a girl." Noted Erica. Brett nervously smiled at the pokemon's affection.

"I'm not one for nicknames, are you alright with that?" Asked Keith turning to his pokemon who nodded in response.

Erica turned to the Santalune forest and began walking.

"If you two have some time, I could use some tips about pokemon battling."

Keith pushed his glasses up as he took a look at his watch.

"Yeah, I guess that we could kill some time."

The brown haired veteran started walking in the same direction as Erica. He turned around to get Brett but noticed that his friend was staring at the roof of a building.

A pokemon was standing on top of the building. It looked like a Lucario, but there was something different about it. It looked so much stronger. The pokemon jumped down and dashed of in the direction of Lumoise city.

Brett stared in amazement at the new pokemon that he had witnessed.

"But...what pokemon...was that?" Keith came over and nudged his friend out of his trance.

"Hey are you ok?" Brett snapped out of his little dream

"Yeah, I'm good." He then followed his friend to the forest. But he was still thinking about what he saw.

'I wonder, was it a Lucario?'

Apparently Erica had very little training for being a pokemon trainer. Lucky for her, Brett and Keith had years of experience.

Once they were deeper into the forest, Erica turned around to face her teachers. She leaned forward a little and put her arms behind her waist to make herself appear more cute. An attempt to increase their opinion of her.

"Ok...where do we start?" Asked Erica without a clue.

"Not us, you." Said Brett.

Erica gave him an incredulous look as Keith sighed and pinched his nose. "We need to see what you can do before we decide on what you need to be taught." Said the brown hair.

Erica nodded and looked around for a pokemon to go after, and she saw a Pikachu ( I know, cliche). The blond pulled out a pokeball and assumed a trainer's stance. She had seen the process of capturing a pokemon many times on TV.

'The people on the TV and radio shows usually throw a pokeball to capture a pokemon.'

"Alright, pokeball go!" Erica threw the pokeball without trying to weaken the pokemon at all.

The ball shook for a bit and then exploded as the Pikachu got out. And the little mouse sure did look angry. Erica backed up out of fear...

"PIKA!"

...before lightning bolts started chasing her.

Brett and Keith stood to the side. The former was trying to keep his sides from splitting.

"Should we help her?" Asked Keith with a tinge of worry.

"She needs to learn from her mistakes." Said Brett as he got up from the ground.

Keith shot him a 'come on' look. Brett got up and released Kyu.

"Alright, Kyu use ember." The fire fox released flames that came in between Erica and the angry Pikachu.

"Yosh, perfect accuracy."

Keith went over to Erica. She seemed exhausted from running from the angry pokemon.

"Well it seems we got our work cut out for us. The first thing you've got to do is weaken the pokemon." Noted Keith. Erica picked up a stone.

"You mean like this?" And she threw it at Brett's head.

"Well something like that." Said Keith with a sweat drop.

They spent much time trying to teach Erica specific mechanics of pokemon training and catching.

"When you throw the ball, take in very deeply the weight of the ball and the distance between you and the pokemon." Said Keith in a teaching manner.

"Ok...um."

Though they did have to explain what the lessons meant to her.

"You have to align your thoughts with your pokemon in battle." Noted Brett.

"Huh?"

Sunset was approaching. Brett sighed as he realized how much time had passed, Keith caught onto it too. He pulled his glasses off to clean them a little while the former scratched the back of his head.

"We should probably look into camping for the night." Suggested Keith, Brett nodded in agreement.

"I agree. After all, we just spent the entire day teaching a novice how to be any good at pokemon training."

Erica couldn't help but feel a little angry at Brett's classification of her. But what she was really thinking about was how camping in the woods would be scary. Though she had to agree with the choice as they were too far away to make it back to Aquacorde town. It would be far too dark by then to even navigate through the woods.

"Sleep in the middle of the woods? Aren't you guys scared of Ursaring or Beedrill, or Haunters?" Asked Erica nervously.

"Don't worry, only friendly pokemon like Caterpie and Pikachu are here and active at night." Laughed Brett.

Suddenly a Fletching appeared above the ground. It flew down and landed on Erica's head. It had a small note attached on its left leg. Erica took off the note and read it.

_'Oh Erica, I'm so proud of you. You made it one day without getting hurt or even getting worried. That is enough to tell me that you can accomplish great things on your journey. Phoenix, our Fletching wants to join you on your adventure_. _I wish you good luck and I will always be rooting for you from home_.' Erica really appreciated her mother's support, but she was more excited about her new partner.

"Really Phoenix?" The Fletching nodded. Erica smiled greatly at this news, but she then noticed that her new pokemon's wing didn't exactly seem ok.

Unfortunately for Phoenix, her wing was a little bit out of place. It was probably attacked on its way to find Erica.

"Oh no. Don't worry Phoenix, we'll get you to the Pokémon Center." Said Erica with much worry.

"Wait, there isn't a center until the next town. You'd have to fight your way out." Noted Brett in a new and serious attitude.

"I don't care. This pokemon has been with me since I was little, I have to help her." Yelled Erica as she exchanged an equally serious, if not angry, look.

Erica had become really upset with this. Despite her concern for her pokemon, she was really upset with how Brett didn't seem that concerned.

"Let me see the pokemon." Said Brett in a stern voice. Erica didn't exactly trust him on this. But seeing as how she didn't seem too close to any pokemon center, she didn't have much of a choice.

The black-haired boy took a moment to examine it. He pressured two of his fingers to the left wing, causing the Fletching to cringe in pain.

Erica couldn't take this anymore, this pain hurt so much to see one of her few friends in such pain.

"No! Stop doing this!" Yelled Erica as she grabbed his arm in an attempt to stop him.

"Phoenix should be just fine now." Said Brett calmly.

Erica stopped and noticed that the little bird was alright, she fluttered up to the shoulder of her new trainer. Brett turned to Keith and they started to set up camp. Erica looked at the bird and back to them.

Later that night, after camp had been set up, the fire that had been set up was no more than a few bits of charcoal. Erica was still awake in her sleeping bag while her other two companions had fallen asleep. She turned to see them both and thought to herself about earlier.

'I guess you can't judge a book by its cover.'

In the next chapter, Erica will take on her first big challenge. Along with that she will be forced to take on her fear of travelling alone again.


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I don't own pokemon. If I did, there'd be an anime based of Pokémon Adventures manga.

"Speech"

'Thought'

"'Quote'"

Kids usually enjoy playing with others when they are at playgrounds. But in this one particular case, one girl stood out from the from the rest. She sat down far from any of the others. Tears seemed to stroll down her face, and onto the card of Charmander that she held in her hand.

"Why won't anybody play with me?" Asked the girl as she wiped a few tears from her face.

Erica woke up with a slowly, her face displayed a sour mood. Keith, who was putting out the charcoals, noticed said look.

"Somebody woke up on the wrong side of the bed." Laughed Keith.

"More like no bed. I never want to do that again." Erica got up and rolled up her sleeping bag. She looked down to notice that her outfit was just a little bit too wrinkled up. The blond sighed, realizing that she would have to pay money to get straighten her outfit and buy some night clothes. 'Well, mom did give me 5000 poke to start off my journey.'

It was then that Erica noticed that Brett was nowhere to be seen. "Where is Brett?"

"He got tired of waiting for you to wake up and decided to move along." Explained Keith.

'Is that really the same guy who gave such a look yesterday?' Thought Erica as she put away her sleeping bag.

Keith got up and handed her some food. A breakfast bar for her. And some food for her pokemon. The blond trainer ate her food relatively quick, but she had to wait for her pokemon to finish eating.

Keith and Erica started walking through the forest after some time had passed. Along the way, they had to battle against random pokemon that came in the way. Time came when they encountered Shauna, Tierno, and Trevor.

"Erica it's so nice to see you!" Squealed Shauna as she ran over to her friend.

"Have you and your pokemon been busting some moves?" Asked Tierno as he danced for a bit.

"But who is this?" Asked Trevor. Tierno and Shauna turned to Keith.

"A pleasure, my name is Keith Chiyoku." As he introduced himself, Shauna and Tierno shook his hands. Trevor was a little reluctant.

"Keith...do you know somebody named Brett?" Asked Trevor.

Keith was surprised at this. "Yes he is my friend. How do you know him?"

"He came through earlier and said, 'You remind me of Keith'."

Keith laughed a little at that, it was odd for him to make such quick judgments. Erica sweatdropped at how Brett was blunt.

"Hey Erica, lets all take our first steps to Santalune city!" Said Shauna.

Erica cupped her chin as she thought about that. It would make a good memory. The blond turned to her teacher for advice. Keith noticed this and gave her a thumbs up for it.

So she stepped forth and grabbed hands with her friends as they stepped forward. She smiled at how she was having fun with her friends.

Once they walked to Santalune city, the friends once again broke off. Keith was eyeing the town with interest. Erica looked around the place too. She looked up to see Keith heading into a Pokémon Center, and she followed.

"Hey! I was wondering where you two were!" They turned to see Brett sitting on a table with a glass of tea. Kyu was there too but it looked different. Like it...

"Ah, your starter evolved." Noted Keith with a calm composure.

"What!?"

Erica was more than surprised at this. She knew that starters could evolve quickly but this was crazy. The fire starter was now more of a bipedal version of its previous form, with a stick in its tail. Now instead of being a Fennekin, she was a Braixen.

"Yeah, we work fast." Brett handed a cup of tea to the pokemon. "Besides, this way she can use her arms to eat."

"By the way Keith, the gym leader uses bug pokemon." Said Brett, gaining his friend's attention.

Keith shortly bore the look of surprise before he turned around and walked to the next route. Erica watched him nervously as he walked away. She turned to Brett for an answer.

"He is now in work mode." Said Brett with a smile on his face.

'Work mode? What is he, a robot?' Thought Erica with a dumbfounded face.

Brett got up and Kyu jumped down from the chair. Erica looked around for the Pokémon gym. Brett caught on to this and grabbed her wrist. Gently, mind you.

"What are you doing?" Asked Erica a little frantically.

"You're going to challenge the gym." Said Brett.

'Nani!?' Thought Erica with a surprised look. 'This is all happening to fast.'

They soon approached one of the famous buildings.

Erica eyed the gym with awe. She had read about gyms before and seen battles on TV, but now she could take part in one.

However, once they were inside, they found the gym to be less appealing. The interior was decorated with various pictures of different bug pokemon. Erica walked over to a rope that hung over the ceiling, leading towards some kind of basement.

"Hey Brett what-" When she turned around to look for him, the boy was gone.

With no idea of what to do, Erica slid down the rope. Once she got to the end of the rope, she fell down without any more material to hold onto. She then landed onto a giant spider web. The protagonist now understood what her teacher meant about bug type pokemon.

'So thats what Brett meant. Weird.'

Erica carefully navigated through the spider web puzzle. She had to battle through many trainers along way. After all the work, she finally got to the end. The gym leader awaited her at the end of the maze. She had lighter blond hair with two long bangs down the front. Her outfit consisted of a white shirt with green cargo pants. Her green eyes were hidden behind a camera that she held

"Welcome trainer, I am Viola. Wait, are you Erica Tamashii by any chance?" Asked Viola with inquiry.

"Uh yeah, how do you know?" Asked the blond.

"I'll tell you if you beat me." She sent out the tiny water skidding pokemon, Surskit.

Our female protagonist sent out Jirai.

The small bug skid around with speed and precision. Despite the speed being a problem, Jirai was able to keep up with his eyes.

Erica was trying to keep up with this so she could give Jirai a command.

"Jirai, use bubble."

The frog shot bubbles at the water bug, and some of them did impact. But it had barely any effect.

"Surskit, use tackle." Commanded Viola as her water bug impacted itself.

The two pokemon fell onto the spider web. Jirai was having a bit of trouble keeping balance.

'Align your thoughts with your pokemon.' Brett's voice echoed into her head.

Erica's eyes met her pokemon's, and the two nodded in response to one another.

'Keep in mind the physics.' Keith's voice echoed.

"Now, jump down and launch yourself."

Jirai did as his trainer instructed and launched himself into the air.

"Now use bubble." Jirai unleashed a barrage of the bubbles around the arena. The froakie began to plummet back to the ground.

"Charge through the bubble now!"

The frog went through the bubble and impacted against Surskit. Surprisingly, the little bug fainted.

Viola was a little more than surprised at this sudden attack, she just had to know what it was. "What was that move?"

Erica smiled. "That was bubble bump."

"It seemed pretty effective, but don't think that this is over." Viola sent out the pink butterfly pokemon (or at least it is here), Vivillion.

"Not a problem, use bubble bump again!" Jirai repeated its previous attack process. Except that this time, it was aimed towards that the soaring pokemon.

"No chance, dodge it." Vivillion moved out of the way, and the frog hit the ceiling.

Jirai started to fall to the floor, with was a sand trap. Erica quickly recalled him to the pokeball.

'It's up to you.' She then threw Phoenix out. Now both trainers were on equal ground.

"Tackle." Phoenix charged forth to attack the butterfly.

"Harden." The incoming impact was weakened.

Erica could easily tell this wasn't going anywhere. She tried to look around for some clue to help her.

'Remember the physics.'

'Align your thoughts.'

'But why?' Questioned Erica in her mind.

A few seconds passed before the answer came.

'To understand how to win.' The voices echoed.

"Phoenix fly up towards the ceiling." The bird flew up high, trusting her trainer.

"Now do a somersault!" Surprisingly, the little bird new what that was as it quickly tackled its opponent.

The Fletching impacted the butterfly to hit the net. Both vivillion and its trainer were surprised. The pokemon was trapped.

"Now impact with a peck attack." The tiny bird dive-bombed and impacted the butterfly. Vivillion fainted, Erica had won.

Viola called back her pokemon.

"That was a well-executed match. Here is the Bug Badge." Viola handed her the badge that looked like a bug. "And if your still interested in how I knew who you were, some challenger from earlier told me."

"So that's how, but how do I get out?" Viola pointed to a backdoor.

"Oh, thank you."

Once she got out, she ran into Brett and Keith.

"I see you won the battle." Congratulated Keith.

"Yeah, thanks to what you taught me." Erica smiled in return.

Keith turned to Brett. And then to Erica. "Well see you guys later."

Erica was more than surprised by this. Was Keith really leaving?

"Yeah, I'll be seeing the two of you around." Said Brett.

Erica was stunned at this. The entire world melted away from her. 'Its just like before.' Thought Erica.

Being strong and being left alone in the big world. Erica was speechless, she remained motionless in her trance of pain. All she could do was repeatedly ask herself in her head why this was happening. It only took a few seconds before she could feel Keith shaking her head to wake her up.

"Are you ok?" Asked Brett. Instead of answering, Erica asked a question in return. "Why do you have to go?"

Brett and Keith were equally stunned by this question. But Keith answered none-the-less.

"We usually travel by ourselves." That didn't seem like good enough answer for Erica.

She shook her friend's hand off her shoulder and pulled out one of her pokeballs. Her face tried to mimic being serious, but Erica was scared on the inside. "Then I'll battle you both. If I win, we stay together."

Brett was now the one with a serious face. He stepped forward closer to Erica. "Why are you staking this on a pokemon battle you can't win?"

Erica faced the ground with a face that had a bit of sorrow etched into it. "I just don't want to be alone in this big wide world." Admitted Erica.

More than a minute passed, and the only thing that Erica could hear was her own heart beat.

Brett sighed, and his face of seriousness morphed into a carefree smile. "Alright, I guess I'll stay with you then."

Keith smiled to and scratched the back of his head. "Alright Erica, your wish is granted. I'll stay as well."

Erica's face shifted from surprise and then curved into a smile. How could it not, with two friends that would openly accept her wishes and stay with her.

Thanks for reading this chapter, hope you liked it. Feel free to leave a guest review. In the next chapter, our trio continues their journey to the famous (can I get a drumroll?)...(...No? Why not?)...Lumiose City!


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: I don't own pokemon in any way. If I did, Ash would have at least one more shiny.

"Speech"

'Thought'

"Oh, I'm so happy right now." Said Erica as she plopped down onto a bed.

After the test of courage that Erica went through, Keith went to challenge Viola and curb-stomped her. And after that the three checked in at the local Pokémon Center. But despite she had avoided an embarrassing battle, she could feel some kind of loss. However she quickly dismissed it.

"Wow, after last night this is what I need." Erica was over exaggerating. Camping isn't that bad, right?

After about thirty minutes of watching TV, Brett and Keith came into the room. Both looked like they had been in a gang fight. Erica didn't know what to expect, probably because she hadn't known the two until yesterday.

"Alright, next time we should examine that a little more thoroughly." Said Keith as he adjusted his now cracked glasses.

"Fine. But you gotta admit, that was one heck of a battle." Laughed Brett, despite how beat up he looked.

Erica just looked at the two, flabbergasted. 'I don't get these guys. They look like they just got caught up in a gang fight, and their taking it?'

Erica coughed which got the attention of the two.

"Mind filling me in boys?" Asked Erica with an impatient face.

"Oh sorry Erica, we usually battle hard, so we can get carried away really easy." Explained Keith.

Brett laughed at the memory of such a battle. "And I almost beat you."

Erica was once again caught off guard, the two were this good at a pokemon battle. The blond thought back to what had happened yesterday. If she had really challenged them to a double battle, she would've surely lost. After trying to imagine how such a battle would've gone, Erica caught the scent of something horrible.

Sweat, and a lot of it.

On reflex, Erica cupped her face while trying to stay conscious. Brett looked at her with a dumbfounded face.

"Something wrong?" Instead of verbally answering, Erica pointed to the door.

"Please, go take a shower! You both stink!" Yelled Erica with a pinched nose.

The two veteran's would've told her she was wrong like most guys do, but she couldn't be anymore right.

While her two teachers were busy, the blond was left with many questions about the two. Erica sighed, maybe it could wait till another time. She changed into a green t-shirt and pink shorts that she bought for sleeping. And thus, she fell to sleep.

The next day, the trio continued along the journey. This time their next stop was Lumoise city, the place where Professor Sycamore did his research.

"I'm eager to meet the professor, I want to know what he is researching." Said Keith with gleaming eyes, and breaking character.

Erica turned to Brett for an answer. He just shrugged his shoulders.

On their way to the city, they started to walk through flower fields. This was being done to run into wild pokemon. They started to see many pokemon on the way. Erica ran into a Ralts and challenged it. She sent out Phoenix to battle.

The Ralts tried to attack back by using a confusion attack on Erica's pokemon. However, it did little damage. The novice smirked at her advantage.

"Phoenix use your somersault-peck attack!" The tiny pokemon flew into the sky and soared down for a devastating impact. This left the tiny psychic type with little health left. Erica took advantage of this and pulled out a pokeball.

The blond closed her right eye to take aim. And she launched the round projectile and caught the Ralts. Congrats to Erica, her first real capture.

"Wow a girl. I think that I'll name you Julia." Said the protagonist upon picking up the pokeball.

Keith pulled out his pokedex, which scanned the pokeball that Erica was holding. "Its a boy."

"...Then I'll name you Psyedge." Said Erica with a few tears of a tiny broken dream.

A small glint of light appeared that was almost invisible. Keith saw it and instantly threw a pokeball. The pokeball bounced back to him, confirming that he caught a pokemon. Upon inspection, it was a Flabebe. A tiny fairy type that carried a flower with it.

"A fairy type? Perhaps this could bring out some new methods." Said Keith in an analytical way.

Approaching the city gate, they ran into Sycamore's assistants. Both bore white suits. One was a tanned girl that had a red scarf, the other was a boy with brown hair and blue scarf.

"Hello, are you three of the people selected by the professor?" Asked the girl assistant.

"Yes, I'm Brett. He is Keith, and she is Erica." Said Brett pointing around to his friends.

"The professor is eager to meet you in person." Said the boy assistant.

Keith instantly bore a smile that resembled a child in a candy store (take a moment to let that sink in).

Even though Erica didn't really show it, she was also excited about meeting the famous professor.

Our trio followed the assistants to the giant city. Upon entering said city, Erica had sparkles in her eyes at how big and magnificent the place was. Honestly, she was like a newborn puppy. Brett and Keith followed the two assistants to the lab. Erica caught sight of this and ran towards the building. Once inside, they went into the elevator to reach the third floor.

Once inside, they met the unshaven man.

"Bonjour." Greeted the professor in French.

"Bonjour." Said Keith.

"Bonjour professor." Erica could easily speak French.

"Hey sir." Said Brett. Just for the record, everyone was staring at him for breaking the chain.

"Anyways, the others should be here soon." Said Sycamore. Right on cue, Erica's friends entered the room.

"We're all here." Cheered Shauna.

"Now that we're here lets battle. Trevor vs. Tierno, Shauna vs. Erica, and Brett vs. Keith. " Suggested Sycamore.

"Uh, are you sure about that?" Asked Keith nervously. Sycamore nodded anyways, not fully aware of their skills.

The other two battles ended fast. But like Keith knew, his battle with Brett was too intense.

"Flabebe!" Keith threw out his new pokemon after his pikachu was defeated.

"Kyu, ember the flower." The bipedal fire fox blew fire on the flower which caused the pokemon to jump off.

"Crap."

Keith recalled it and threw out a spiky ball pokemon, Quallidin. For those of you who don't know, Quallidin evolves from Chespin.

"Use tackle." The spiky pokemon charged towards the fire fox. The impact left more than a mark.

"Psybeam!" Kyu used the stick on its tail to launch it back, the impact broke Sycamore's desk.

"Charge forth with take down!" Yelled Keith.

"Ember!" Commanded Brett.

"OK THAT IS ENOUGH!" Yelled Sycamore, stopping the match.

Brett and Keith stopped their battle and looked around at the damaged office, it was their fault of course. Keith turned to professor Sycamore.

"I warned you." Said Keith in a haunting manner.

'If I'd known how good these two were, I would've met them in person.' Thought Sycamore despondently.

But just between you and me, that wouldn't've changed anything.

"Well I know now that I made a good choice, giving all of you your pokedexes. Now I'm sure you're all eager to learn what I research."

"Not really, just Keith." Said Brett, further irritating the professor and receiving an elbow from Erica.

"Anyways, I research the magnificent process called Mega Evolution." Now he got everybody's attention.

"Its a process that is so powerful, only pokemon that can no longer evolve can do it." Erica was starting to get interested

"But don't get to excited." Surprise and worry overtook Erica. The unshaven man turned towards one of his still standing windows. "There is still so much about this process that we still need to know."

Sycamore turned around with his laid back smile. "What I really need you to do is go out into the world and discover yourselves and your pokemon."

"Never the less, I will find out more about this." Proudly proclaimed Keith.

"Count me in!" Said Brett, pumping his fist.

"I don't really care about mega evolution. But I really want to fill out the pokedex." Said Trevor with a smile.

"I just want to fulfill my dream of a pokemon dance team." You guys get three guesses and the last two don't count.

"I want to make great memories on this adventure." Said Shauna. She turned to Erica. "What about you Erica?"

Erica was caught off guard by this question, what exactly did she want to do on this journey? She tilted her head to the right to come up with an answer.

"I guess that I'll continue training to become a stronger trainer."

Both foreign trainers were caught off guard by that answer. Erica had come to practically reflect themselves.

Unknown to them, an orange haired man in a leather jacket approached the laboratory.

"Are they here?"

Dun-dun-duuuuuh! Who doesn't like a little suspense(its a safe bet, though)? Anyway, thank you for reading this chapter, hoped you liked it. If you did, feel free to leave a guest review. Next time, our heroes will take a tour of the lovely city of Lumiose.


	5. Chapter 5

Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon in any way. I don't have any witty remarks this time, sorry.

"Speech"

'Thought'

Sycamore had given six pokedexes to six children of different natures. His main goal, to unlock the secret of the new process called Mega Evolution. But unfortunately for him, it looks like only three of his candidates actually seem interested in it. The unshaven man walked over to his desk and pulled out two boxes. One which looked like a classic container, but the other one only had a hole on top of it.

Turning around, he faced our blond heroine. "Are you going to further seek out Mega Evolution?"

Erica pondered at that thought, she was already going to try to become a stronger trainer. Why not take it even further? A confident grin spread across her face as the protagonist nodded. Sycamore gave a laid back smile as he turned to Erica's neighbors. "You don't have to stay anymore if you don't want to."

"Good, because it is a little hard to focus with all the damage." Said Shauna.

Sycamore was stunned, he was left sulking as the three excused themselves. The unshaven professor made a mental note to get Brett and Keith to pay him back for the damages. But he regained his composure, none-the-less. "Anyways, I have something that can help you uncover the mysteries mega evolution."

"What is it?" Asked Erica with gleaming eyes. But instead of answering, Sycamore held out three thin sheets.

'I really don't like this idea.' Thought Erica sourly. "Remind again, why we are blindfolded?"

"So that we each get a fair chance of course." Stated Brett.

There is an explanation for this. Professor Sycamore offered the trio of choice of a new pokemon. They would either get Bulbasaur, Squirtle, or Charmander. But since the first person that got to choose would be at a disadvantage, Sycamore blindfolded them for a fair chance.

First went Erica as she stuck her hand into a box to get a pokeball, then Keith, and finally Brett.

"Alright, lets see what I got." Erica popped open the pokeball to reveal Bulbasur. "Ah cute, I think that I'll name you Venus."

Keith released his pokeball to show his new Charmander. "Thats pretty cool...wait that means-"

"Hey I got a Squirtle, I'll name you Tyco." Cheered Brett as he high-fived his pokemon.

Erica smiled at the scene cheerfully, Keith just looked mortified before-

"STUPID TYPE-ADVANTAGE!"

Brett gave a confident smirk which Keith caught on too. Erica looked at the two for a moment before she stepped in between the two and pinched their ears.

"Not in here, or for the rest of the day." Said Erica who was a little more than angry.

Sycamore took the other container and opened it. Inside were three round gems that had different color patterns. Sycamore gave the turquoise, black, and blue to Keith. The one that was gray with blue and brown was given to Keith. And the last one, which had shades of turquoise green and purple, was given to Erica. The heroine turned to the professor with a questioned look, and he caught on to it.

"Those are mega stones." Said Sycamore as he pointed to them. "From what we have deduced so far, they are necessary for invoking a mega evolution. The ones I just gave you correspond with the pokemon that you just got."

With her eye brows raised, Erica looked at the stone with a surprised face. 'So this is part of the path of becoming stronger.' She moved it around as light bounced off it. 'But it is so pretty.'

The trio took the elevator down to the first floor where they encountered a man in a leather jacket. Erica felt some kind of nostalgia, this man seemed familiar.

"You're some of the trainers who Sycamore entrusted with the pokedex?" Asked the man.

"Yes, thats us." Said Keith, keeping his usual, calm composure.

"Its good to see that new beauty is arising in this world. With all the filth that has been left behind by previous generations." Erica looked over to Brett to see if he would say something completely absurd in return. But she was shocked with what she had found.

For once, Brett had said nothing. He just stood there silently. The entire atmosphere seemed so tense.

"Thats a very philosophical viewpoint. Who exactly are you?" It was as if Keith was digging into the conversation for a hidden answer.

"My name is Lysandre. I am the head of Lysandre Labs." Stated the man in introduction.

A light bulb went off in Erica's head as she made the connection. Lysandre Labs developed a lot of the technological gear that Kalos used daily. They were the ones who distributed the holo-casters. It was then that Erica noticed the stare-off between her friends and Lysandre.

A beeping sound emerged from Lysandre's pocket as he pulled out his holo-caster. The current time was flashing. The orange haired man turned around to exit. "Although this as been pleasant, I must take my leave."

Erica shook at how ominous and tense the conversation turned out to be. She felt a hand on her shoulder and turned to see Brett.

"Don't worry, he is nothing to be afraid of." His usual grin appeared.

Erica smiled and reflected said grin. Shauna ran into the building frantically.

"Erica! C'mon, lets explore the city!" Shauna grabbed Erica by the wrist and they both ran out the door.

Brett started to walk out before Keith put his hand on his shoulder.

"There is a sliver of ice in his heart."

"I know." He turned around to face his companion. "But hopefully, it isn't anything to worry about." Said the hot-blooded trainer.

Keith reluctantly nodded in return. On the way out, they ran into Trevor.

"Excuse me. I'd like to talk to you two about some things." Said Trevor, a little nervously.

On the edge of Southern Boulevard, Shauna and Erica were denied access to Northern Boulevard.

"But why not?" Asked Shauna as she put up her cutest face.

"I told you miss, there is a blackout and we don't need children running around where they shouldn't." The construction worker ushered them away.

"Wow, they were stingy." Pouted Shauna with a sour face. Erica smiled at how funny her friend was. It seemed that Shauna was always like this, ever since they were kids.

"Hey Erica, those two guys that you are with, what are they like?"

Erica was a little surprised at that question. She had been travelling with them for some time, but there was so much that she didn't know about them.

"Well they're both from the Kanto-Johto region."

"Woah, so they're foreign. Which one of them is smarter?" Erica laughed at that question. "Keith, by a long shot."

In one of the random office buildings, Trevor was getting tips from Keith. Brett was just with them so he could see the view of a tall building.

"Make sure that you always have time for-" Suddenly the lights went out. The three moved around to find each other.

"Darry, we have a problem."

"But my name is Trevor."

"And that only works with space exploration." Said Keith as he elbowed his partner.

Outside, Shauna and Erica were battling against each other.

"Go Kinnekins!"

"Lets do it, Phoenix!"

"Use double team." The tiny bird created several clones of itself to avoid getting hit.

"Use howl." The fire starter let loose a wolf howl to increase its attack. "Now use flame charge!"

Kinnekins jumped up into the air and impacted against the center clone, which was the original. Phoenix started to fall down, Erica recalled the pokemon before it could impact. She reached behind and released Jirai..

"Kinnekins, use ember." The fox cub launched tiny little fires towards Jirai.

"Jump up and use bubble bump!" Erica's pokemon jumped up in the air and invoked its original move. The impact, was strong enough to knock out the Fennekin.

Of course, since Shauna was inexperienced, Erica won.

"No fair, I wanted to see more of Kinnekins." Whined Shauna.

Erica smiled at how funny her friend was. Suddenly, Phoenix's and Jirai's pokeballs shook. She released both, the two pokemon started glowing.

"What the-?" Erica was not used to the process of evolution. Jirai attained longer limbs, and horns on his head. His bubble froth was now longer and his head now was dark blue. Now Jirai was a Frogadier.

Phoenix acquired thicker legs and a larger body. Her feathers had not only grown longer, but now had yellow mixed in. The evolved form of Fletching, Flecthinder.

"Cool they evolved." Brett and Keith walked over to greet the pair.

Erica turned over to face her teachers with a cheery face. "What'd you think of that?" She was a little overconfident.

Brett and Keith turned towards each other, and then towards their pupil. They both shrugged their shoulders. Erica was left petrified.

But in her petrified state, Erica began to think and wonder the same question. Just how good were these two? She looked down to the gem that was given to her earlier. She gripped it with a serious look.

They were about to leave when Erica tapped Keith on the shoulder and held out a pokeball.

"Battle me." Everyone gave her an incredulous look at this.

Little did she know how good her glasses-wearing teacher was.

Thanks for reading this chapter, I hope you liked it. In the next chapter, Erica will challenge her teacher and test her skills as a pokemon trainer.


	6. Chapter 6

Disclaimer: In no way, do I own pokemon. If I did, Red would talk. But only one word. Because I am ominous like that.

"Speech"

'Thought'

When we left off, our gang was preparing to head along the next route. But suddenly, Erica challenged Keith to a battle. Popcorn anyone?

"You want to battle me?" Asked Keith. Brett was also caught off guard by his student's request. He knew Erica had potential, but not enough training as he or Keith possessed. Keith was more caught off guard than anyone else at the time.

The brown haired veteran looked to his friend for a suggestion of how to respond. He really couldn't come up with a good response, all Brett could do was shrug his shoulders. Keith turned back to his eager apprentice. "Why exactly?"

"I want to test myself. And of the two of you, your the more sane one." Said Erica as she irritated Brett.

"Alright then." Said Keith as he drew out a pokeball and sent out Pikachu. Erica became curious of where he got that from. The only place that she could think of was Santalune Forest. But, none-the-less she took up the challenge.

She sent out Venus since grass types were a little resistant to electric types.  
"Venus, vine whip!"

The grass dinosaur launched two whips at the electric mouse, who apparently took the hit.

"Tackle." Pikachu charged forth and impacted Venus. "Thundershock." At close range, the electric attack did more damage than usual. Venus fainted.

Surprised, Erica called back her grass pokemon to send out her next one, Psyedge.

"Double team." Psyedge produced multiple copies of itself to prevent himself from being hit.

"Now start teleporting rapidly." Psyedge teleported from one spot to the next. Suddenly, he was right behind Pikachu, ready to strike.

"Pikachu, reach behind you and hold on." The mouse pokemon did as it was told and grabbed onto the Ralts.

Psyedge twitched for a moment before falling down, paralyzed by Pikachu's static ability.

"Thundershock." Pikachu proceeded to shock the pokemon like the last one till it fainted.

Erica called back her pokemon and sent out her Fletchinder.

"Phoenix, start with agility." The bird flew around to gain more speed. "Now ember from random spots."

The bird shot tiny flares at random points to prevent the mouse from moving around. "Thundershock." Pikachu aimed its electricity around to hit the bird. But it didn't work because this time it was more evasive.

"Jump and thundershock." Pikachu jumped into the air and used its deadly thundershock to catch the bird off guard.

"Land on Phoenix and thundershock." Pikachu perfectly landed on Phoenix as it fell and performed a knockout attack.

The challenger's face grew worried at where this was going. Erica called back her pokemon and sent out her last, Jirai. 'She is done for.' Thought Brett.

"Jirai growl." The frog let out a croak that lowered the mouse's attack.

"Now quick attack." With lightning speed, Pikachu was attacked.

"Bubbles all around." The frogadier released large amounts of bubbles. "And bubble bump." The pokemon jumped into one of the bubbles to impact Pikachu hard.

"Jump into another bubble and thundershock." Pikachu did so, which created an entire field of electricity. And because of the electricity being magnified by the water in the bubbles, Jirai fainted.

"Unbelievable." Gasped Trevor.

"Awesome." Shauna couldn't believe this, Keith beat Erica without switching out at all.

Erica also had a look of pure shock at this, how was Keith this good? She knew that the battle would be a difficult one, but this was beyond belief. He walked over and patted her on the shoulder.

"You did good." Said Keith with a smile as he and Brett moved towards the gate. Erica looked over to him with a face that was mixed with question and depression. "We'll wait for you at this gate."

Erica looked down at the ground for a moment before a look of seriousness appeared on her face. She got up and retrieved her partner. Turning around, our protagonist ran to the nearby Pokémon Center.

"Erica?" Trevor reached out to his friend.

"Where are you going?" Asked Shauna, a little worried about her friend.

"To get my pokemon healed of course." Said Erica, surprisingly with a smile.

Afterwards, Erica rejoined with her companions. The three were about to continue, but Erica grew curious about her friends. She felt the immediate need to ask. "Hey I have question." Keith and Brett turned around, giving her attention. "How long have you two been trainers?"

Keith cupped his chin, trying to remember what day he had started. "February 27th, about 5 years ago."

Brett scratched the back of his head. "Uh, lets see. I think 4 years ago, April 6th."

Erica wasn't to surprised at this, those did seem like good dates to start. She looked over at a nearby calendar which read, August 23rd. So that means that Erica had started on the 21st of August. She was brought back to reality when she heard her friends talking.

"Oh sorry, what was that?"

"Why did you want to know when we started?" Asked Brett. Erica just shrugged her shoulders with a passive face. Brett ended up just shrugging it off as well, but Keith couldn't get it off his mind.

'I guess that is a good reason as to why they are so strong.' Thought Erica.

After that the trio went out to the next route. Upon entering, a pokemon ran up to Erica and circled around her several times. It then cheered happily. The pokemon was a blue bipedal dog. Erica was nervous but ended up laughing anyways. She pulled out her pokedex and scanned the pokemon. It was then identified as Lucario.

"Lucario wait!" A blond girl in roller skates gear with another Lucario came up.

"Sorry, I was just trying out new trick when he got away from me. I'm Korrina, nice to meet you."

"Hi, I'm Erica. This is Brett, and this is Keith." Said Erica, introducing her friends.

Lucario continued to circle around Erica. Something about this pokemon was catching Brett's eye.

"Wow, there must be something about your aura that makes Lucario like you." Stated Korrina.

"Aura?" Asked Erica with a dumbstruck face.

"You don't know what aura is? Well its-!" Korrina turned around to see her Lucario running in a different direction. She and her other pokemon turned around and chased after it.

Our trio just stood there for a second, trying to comprehend this strange event. But despite that, Erica was still left questioned about what aura was. "Hey Keith, can you explain what aura is?"

Keith just shook his head and turned to Brett, who was thinking critically about the pokemon. "I do understand it, but Brett can explain it better."

Said trainer was brought out of his trance when he heard his name. "Aura? Well, it's hard to comprehend. You could say that aura is a sign of your soul that others can detect."

If Erica's face didn't look dumbfounded before, it most certainly did now. Keith couldn't help but chuckle a little at how this looked.

The three continued through the route. They did have to battle many pokemon. After getting further through the route Erica saw a boy running through a tall grass patch. She couldn't help but notice that he was wearing shorts. The boy looked over and noticed her staring.

"Hey, what are you looking at?" Asked the kid. Erica could feel him acting rudely.

"I'm just wondering why you're wearing shorts." And here it comes.

"Because they're comfy and easy to wear, you old woman." That sent Erica over the edge.

She would've challenged the boy to a battle, but Brett grabbed her shirt collar and dragged her away. Her arms were flailing as she was being dragged through the route. I'm just gonna let that image settle in our minds...heh heh.

The three then approached Camphrier town. It was a pretty small town, it consisted of houses. There was a large building nearby near the edge of the town. And of course, a Pokémon Center was located in town. However, in this town there was a hotel. It seemed like the best place to rest up, especially since it was dusk.

After the three checked in, Brett and Keith left to venture around. Erica spent a few minutes inside the room before-

"Ok, now I see why they choose to battle so much." She left the room to go explore a little. Upon exiting the center, Erica looked around for a place to explore. She found that the best place to look into was the Chateau nearby.

Once she got in she ran into Shauna and some guy. "Hey Erica, we just meeting up at the strangest of times, don't we?"

Erica laughed a little. "Yeah, I guess we do." She turned to the other guy in the room. "So what were you talking about?"

Shauna turned around to the resident of the chateau. "This man is the owner of the chateau. He was talking to me about mega evolution." Erica's interest just skyrocketed.

"No, I was talking about how this place was great and majestic." Said the man with an irritated look. Now Erica's interest was below 20 percent.

Another man ran into the room. Quite frantically, actually.

"Sir it's back!"

"Again? Alright, lets go take care of it." The men left the chateau.

Erica turned to Shauna. What was this unknown thing that came back? "I guess we should follow them." Suggested Shauna.

"Ok I guess. I did leave the hotel to find something to do."

They followed the guys outside, down Route 7 till they came to a bridge. And on said bridge, there was a pokemon. This one was obese and greatly resembled Totoro,. The classical Snorlax. Like the average Snorlax that blocks paths, this one was sleeping.

"Do you know how to wake it up sir?"

"Yes but I need the pokeflute. And thats at Parfum Palace." The man turned in the direction of the palace.

"We can go get it." Said Shauna cheerfully. Erica was surprised at her friend's suggestion. She grabbed Shauna's shoulders and they turned around.

"Shauna, are you really sure about this?" Whispered Erica.

"I don't see why not. Besides, didn't you say that you needed to get out of the hotel?" Whispered Shauna with a most innocent face. It's blinding! The blond trainer couldn't say no because it was true.

"Alright, we will go get it." Sighed Erica turning back around.

"Oh thank you." The owner pointed back to an alternate route that was just outside of Camphrier. "If you take that route, should find Parfum Palace."

They turned to the route to go get the pokeflute. But because of what they were about to go through, Erica should've just asked Brett and Keith to move it.

Thank you for reading this chapter. I know it was a little cliché that Keith's Pikachu swept through Erica's entire team, but it was on my friend's team when I was writing this. And it was necessary to show the gap between a veteran and a novice. Next time, I can promise lots of laughs.


	7. Chapter 7

Disclaimer: I don't own pokemon. If I did, I'd be in it somewhere.

"Speech"

'Thought'

In the last chapter, Erica and Shauna took up a job to go to Parfum Palace, retrieve a pokeflute, and wake up a Snorlax. You know, like how it goes whenever a Snorlax is present.

They walked through a forest where they had to battle several trainers to get through, Erica was happy with how she was doing. At the moment, she had Jirai battling against a tourist's pokemon.

"Alright, use your water gun attack." The frog launched the stream of water that knocked out the Pikachu.

"Wow, it looks like all the things that Brett and Keith taught me were true." Stated Erica with as she recalled her pokect monster.

"I've been meaning to ask you, why didn't you ask them to do this?" Asked Shauna, forgetting that it was her idea to come here.

"Because I can't seem to reach them, and even if I did they'd probably destroy the bridge on accident." Said Erica as she tried to use her holo-caster to reach either Keith or Brett.

Once they made it out of the forest, they were greeted with a view of the Parfum Palace. Well, it was more of a mansion than a palace. Its decoration seemed to match up more closely to ones that were owned by wealthy French people. The gates were golden, probably gold plated. Once they were close enough, the girls met with a butler.

"Welcome, entry is 1000 poke per person." It goes without saying that both girls were shocked by this news

"What!? It costs money to get in?" Said Erica in an shocked manner.

"My apologies, but the master is a very boastful." Erica sighed and paid him the fee. Shauna, with her head down, also paid the fee.

Upon entering, Erica gawked at the sight of the interior. Sure the outside was good, but the interior was fabulous. There were so many gold statues and red carpets that made Erica think she was in heaven. Sparkles were in her eyes and around her head as Erica imagined herself living in this kind of place.

'With a red dress and golden earings.' She was having such a nice daydream.

Right in front of the Milotic statue was a man who was moving around quite frantically.

"Oh my Furfrou, where is my Furfou?" Asked the man worryingly.

The blond couldn't help but ask what was going on. "Uh, excuse me sir?" The man frantically turned to her.

"Oh my dear Fufrou, have you seen it anywhere!?" Erica became nervous again, this guy seemed very strange. Plus, she didn't even know what a Furfrou was.

Shauna pulled out her pokedex as it scanned for what that pokemon was. Furfrou's looked like poodles. And as such, they could be groomed in various ways. Shauna approached the man. She held the device in front of the man. "Is this the pokemon?"

Man nodded frantically. "Oh yes, that's what my dear Fufrou looks like!" He started to run around frantically, calling out to his pokemon. Erica tapped on Shauna's shoulder.

"I think that we should help him look around." Suggested our heroine.

"Yeah, who wouldn't be sad if their pokemon was missing." Erica couldn't help but feel sad about the thought of having lost any of her friends. Like how it was for her childhood.

They started searching around the house, looking in nearly every room. They soon found themselves on the second floor's balcony, outside. Erica couldn't help but be amazed at the great view of statues and well cut hedges. While they were looking on the outside balcony, our protagonist spotted the dog pokemon in the small hedge-path maze.

"Erica, it's in the maze behind the house." Said Erica as they ran down to the area.

Once they got close to Furfrou, it instantly ran away from them. They chased it around for about five minutes before they stopped to catch their breath. Erica was more than frustrated.

"Why..'huff'..is it..'huff'.. so fast?" Said Erica as she attempted to catch her breath.

"Maybe...'huff'...we need to...'huff'..trap it." Suggested Shauna.

"How?" Erica then looked around the maze and noticed how it was cut. "Oh."

Erica then ran around the maze to chase the pokemon. The Furfrou kept running till it saw Shauna. The dog pokemon turned around and ran right into Erica. Erica grabbed the pokemon as it struggled around dragging Erica with it. And she was struggling to keep on. In a desperate attempt, the blond threw out Venus to help her out. "Use vine whip to hold it down." The grass dinosaur extended its whips to tie its legs together.

In accordance with physics, as the Furfrou was stopped Erica was launched forward.

"Hooray!" Cheered Shauna as she ran over and helped her friend up. The owner came over to see.

"Oh you have found my Furfrou. Oh thank you, thank you, thank you." Said the man frantically as he shook both their hands.

"Yeah, no problem." Grunted Erica.

"And I know how to reward you. With fireworks." Suggested the owner. Erica and Shauna perked up at this. They then ran to the outdoor balcony to see the spectacle.

As the wonderful spectacle enused, Shauna and Erica watched with amazement. Shauna started become emotional.

"You know Erica, I went on this adventure to find a dream. But in the end, I want to make many memories to look back on. And I know that this will be one of them." Said Shauna with deep thought and emotion. Erica was a little surprised at how deep this was, but Shauna was one of her best friends.

She turned to her friend with a smile. Erica returned the smile.

A large amount of a fireworks flew up at once. The two gawked at the sight with surprise and happiness.

"That was the best!" Squealed Shauna. The owner with his butler and Furfrou came up.

"Did you enjoy the fireworks?" Asked the owner.

Shauna nodded frantically. Erica gave a small nod in return, then something clicked inside her head.

"Not to ask for too much, can you tell us about Mega Evolution?" Asked Erica. The butler stepped forward to answer her question. "All that I can tell you about it is that the process can be achieved with a certain bond."

Erica tilted her head to the right. Even though he was trying to help, it didn't really do much. Oh well, something was better than nothing. But something else was bothering our protagonist, like she was forgetting something.

"Oh yeah! Can we borrow the pokeflute?" Asked Erica as she remembered what she came for.

"Oh that thing." He turned to the butler, who presented the item to the two girls. It looked like a flute shoved through a pokeball. Both Erica and her friend bowed in thanks.

The two quickly ran back to the bridge to find the two men. But the Snorlax was nowhere to be seen. Needless to say, both girls were very curious as to how this happened. "What happened to the pokemon?" Asked Erica quickly.

The owner of the chateau turned to our surprised protagonist. "Well, actually a boy with his own pokeflute came by earlier and captured the Snorlax." Said the man as he scratched the back of his head.

"Nani!?" Screamed Erica and Shauna in unision.

"Yeah a boy with a battle lust and short black hair." Erica took a moment to put two and two together.

"When I find Brett..." I'll leave the rest to your imagination.

Before leaving, Erica gave the pokeflute back to its owner.

The two girls were forced to leave empty-handed. Shauna decided that she would continue down the road. Erica decided that she would go back and confront Brett, oh this is gonna be good. Upon entering the three person suite, Erica met up with her two companions.

"Erica, we were wondering where you were." Stated Keith, a little worried about his friend.

"...Brett." Said Erica in a haunting manner.

"Yeah?" Asked Brett, not aware of the fear that is an angry teenage girl.

"Did you catch the Snorlax that was on the bridge?"

"Oh that was a good battle, and Laxer is one powerful member to the team." Said our black-haired protagonist.

Erica showed an angry face. She was about to start yelling at Brett, but she fell down onto her bed. Brett walked over and poked her, Erica had fallen asleep. After all, these last few hours had been tiring.

The next day, our trio continued along the now open path. As they walked along, they came past another chateau.

"What is this place?" Asked Erica. Keith turned around and noticed the place as well.

"Oh, this is the Battle Chateau." Stated Keith.

"Rich people come here to battle with their pokemon." Explained Brett.

Erica thought that over for a moment. Rich people equal big cash prize. But then another thought hit her, those people could possibly be rude. She then showed a face of disgust and turned to the other direction.

"Pass." She waved it off.

So instead of that, they continued till they reached connecting cave. As they ventured further through the cave, they found it to grow darker. Keith reached out and grabbed Erica's hand, so they wouldn't get lost.

"Am I holding onto you Erica?" Asked Keith.

"No." She continued to reach behind her to see if she could feel Brett's hand, but got no such response. She turned around to see Brett's creepy smile illuminated by a flashlight. Erica's scream echoed throughout the elongated cave, and then the sound of somebody's face impacting the ground reverberated along the cave walls.

Keith took the flashlight from his friend's hand and found that the exit wasn't too far away.

Once they reached the other side, they could see a the ocean. Apparently the cave led to a rock ledge. Erica suddenly had sparkles around her eyes.

"A beach thats so great!" Exclaimed the blonde protagonist.

Brett looked over his left and noticed a horde of Sevipers coming their way. "I think that I'll battle the-"

Erica suddenly rushed in as she released Psyedge, Jirai, and Venus all at once.

"Use your dazzling gleam, water gun, and razor leaf!" Yelled Erica.

Her pokemon launched epic attacks that defeated the entire horde in a single blow. Brett and Keith looked at their friend a little nervously.

"Nobody is stopping me from that beach." Proclaimed Erica, pumping her fist.

Suddenly a bright light was surrounding her pokemon as it grew taller and took on the form similar to a ballet dancer. Psyedge evolved into a Kirlia. Erica was about to cheer, but she then remembered that it's a boy.

So Brett and Keith didn't have to lend a finger as Erica demolished anything that stood in their path. As they arrived at Ambrette town, Erica started to run around at the great view of the surrounding ocean. Keith looked around and noticed a nearby laboratory.

Keith took a moment to put two and two together. "We need to go there first."

Erica was about to protest, but Keith gave a look that teacher's usually give to slacker students. And it goes without saying that Erica couldn't really combat that. And so she reluctantly followed him and Brett to the laboratory.

Thank you for reading this chapter, I hoped you enjoy reading it. In the next chapter, our heroes will come face to face with the infamous Team Flare.


	8. Chapter 8

Disclaimer: Me no own the pokemon.

"Speech"

'Thought'

When we left off, our heroes had come to a beach town and decided to go to a laboratory.

...Yes its crazy.

Upon entering the lab, Brett started frantically looking at different fossils. Erica tried to share a little interest, but she couldn't help but gave an incredibly boring face. Keith gave a quick laugh at this and went over to one of the scientists.

"Can you tell us anything-" The scientist then ran to the other side of the room. Erica saw this too, and noticed that all the scientists were running around. They seemed to be in some kind of rush.

Erica walked over and tapped on the shoulder of one of the female scientist. She turned around in a frantic spin.

"I'm sorry, but we're in a state of emergency right now. Our head scientist is missing." Exclaimed the scientist quickly.

"Where could he be?" Asked Keith. The female scientist picked up a piece of paper that was right behind her.

"The last place that he said he was going to was Glittering Cave, it is to the east of here." Said the girl, a little frantically.

"I see...alright, we are heading to Glittering Cave." Proclaimed Keith as if he was a leader.

"Wait." Erica seemed a little more than frustrated at this. She did want to help out the professor, but she also wanted to go to the beach.

"I'll buy you a swimsuit." Offered Keith.

"Make it five." Countered Erica.

"Deal."

After leaving the laboratory, Erica spotted a route gate. Keith saw it too and suspected that it was in the direction that they should go. The interior wasn't really anything special, but Erica could've sworn that one of the tourists inside was muttering something about nearby Ryhorn.

The trio exited the connecting building, but they came to a road that was they couldn't walk on. It was darted with rocks that even gel soles could give comfort to. Course, Brett was stubborn and attempted to traverse it. Keith and Erica watched it from a viewpoint.

"Sometimes he doesn't use his brain." Noted Keith as he pinched his nose.

Erica looked around and noticed a Rhyhorn. She grew a smile on her face and ran over to it. She tapped its back to get some attention, once it turned around, the protagonist gave it a treat in exchange for a ride. Erica turned around towards her friends.

"Come on guys." Said Erica with a wink.

The two climbed onto it as the rock pokemon traversed through the rough terrain. Brett turned to his blonde friend.

"How do you know how to ride one of these?"

"My mom is famous for being a pokemon racer, she taught me a lot of things." Explained Erica.

Once the got to the other side of the rough terrain the dismounted from the Rhyhorn. Erica gave it another treat as thanks.

They entered into the cave to find it to be a maze. Brett and Keith were about to split up when Erica grabbed both of them by the collars.

"Nope."

"But why?" Asked Brett.

Erica shot him a nasty look, shocking him for a moment. They then navigated throughout the maze of a cave. They fought against many wild pokemon that they ran into. After one battle, Venus evolved. Now, instead of just a bulb, the grass dinosaur had a premature flower petal with leaves around it.

"Wow an Ivysaur!" Cheered Erica.

"Huh, took long enough." Said Brett, petrifying Erica.

They further journeyed through the cave till they came upon a room that was loaded with jewels. Both Erica and Brett were caught in the majesty of such sight. Keith took a moment to look around.

"These are worthless." Said Keith, crushing any dreams that Brett or Erica had of selling the items.

Infront of them was a man who was wearing an orange tux, with orange shades, and had orange hair (not my original character).

"Whats this? A bunch of kids." Asked the man.

'And I thought we could get away from trouble.' Thought Brett and Keith at the same time.

"Scram! Don't you know that if you play with fire, you get burned?"

"Well not always. If you're careful, you'll be fine." Stated Keith as he pushed up his glasses.

That statement really ticked off the guy, he sent out a dog that was black with an orange muzzle and silver lining across the back. His Houndour was ready to pounce. Keith readied to counter, but Brett stepped in the way. He released a pokemon that looked like a Squirtle with fluffy ears, and a fluffy tail.

"Go Tyco!" Yelled Brett. Erica gawked at this. 'When did that happen?'

The battle didn't last long, seeing as how Brett had type and experience advantage.

"It doesn't matter that I lost, Team Flare will conquer everything. We'll make it so that we are the only ones who get happy!" Yelled the man as he ran off.

"Wait, could it be that they captured the professor?" Questioned Keith. Erica grew grim at such a thought, who would do such?

They hurried through to find the enemy. They ran into a female member of team flare. Keith stepped forward to take this one. He sent out a Charmeleon. Erica was once again surprised.

"This doesn't matter. You'll never defeat Team Flare!" Said the female grunt as she ran off.

A pair of grunts then walked forward. "I guess that I'll give you bugs a little credit." Said one of the grunts.

"Then we'll just have to teach you two a lesson." One grunt sent out a Mienfoo and the other sent a Croagunk.

Both Brett and Keith sent out a sword pokemon that had a cloth for a hand.

"Wow, what kind of pokemon is that?" Asked Erica as she held up the pokedex. It listed the pokemon as Honedge.

Erica put her device away and ran down through the cave to find the professor. Once she got further down the cave, she encountered another member of Team Flare.

"So those other two are just a little too busy huh?" This grunt sent out an Houndour. Erica responded by sending out Jirai.

"Use bite." The dark hound jumped forward and chomped down on Erica's starter.

"Crap, use double team." The ninja pokemon managed to dislodge itself from the maw of its captor. Jirai then created clones of himself to make him harder to hit.

"Use odor sleuth." The dog pointed its nose up to find its opponent. "And another bite attack." Houndour leaped forward to attack. Erica anticipated this..

"Use your water gun attack." As his opponent ran up to him, Jirai launched water into Houndour's mouth. Erica got lucky with a critical hit that defeated her opponent.

"Damn you." Cursed the grunt as she retrieved her pokemon and retreated.

Erica ran further into the cave, and she soon came upon the professor. He seemed to be researching really hard.

"Professor! I'm here to save you!" Proclaimed Erica.

"Huh...oh hello there." Greeted the professor as he turned to meet the blond.

"Lets get you out of here and away from Team Flare." Suggested the protagonist.

"Team what now?" Asked the professor.

And then she turned to stone. All that effort for nothing. "You mean that you didn't know that there was an evil gang in here?" Asked Erica hopingly.

"Not in the least." Erica's face was now cracking.

"Well for your efforts, I'll give you these two fossils that I found." He held out two fossils. One of a sail, and one of a jaw. She took both of them and started to walk back to her teachers.

The two ran up to her faster than she was walking towards them. Upon running into their pupil, Keith and Brett bombarded Erica with many questions. Instead of answering though, she just sail fossil to Brett, and the jaw fossil to Keith.

"What happened?" Asked Brett noticing her tired expression.

"Don't want to talk about it." Said Erica quickly.

After that whole fiasco in the cave, the three left for a day at the beach. It goes without saying that Erica was having a great time in her new tropical bikini. However, Keith was pondering what Team Flare was aiming to do. After three and a half hours of sunbathing, watermelon smashing (melon on the veterans, and blindfold on novice), and the ocean, the three continued even further down towards the next city. Keith turned to Erica with a question.

"So do you know anything about this city?" Erica cupped her chin for any answers. "All that comes to mind is that Cyllage city is known for being a place of great sports."

Erica thought a little deeper on that one thought, it seemed exactly like the perfect place to house a gym.

Near the end of the day, the trio came upon Cyllage the city. This is where the second gym was located at. Once they were in the city limits, Erica spotted a clothing and dashed in that direction. She knew that there was a gym here, but she could wait.

Keith and Brett looked around for a sign that could lead them to the gym. Keith then looked up a mountain that stood next to the city. Upon inspection, he could see a pokeball insignia.

"Its up there. Lets go." The two then proceeded to the gym.

Once they got in the gym, the two were amazed by the sight of the interior. Inside was mini mountain that had rock-climbing walls all over it, and behind that was a waterfall complete with a rainbow.

Keith had a small sweatdrop at seeing this obstacle while Brett smacked his fists together to go challenge the gym.

Back at the clothing store, Erica continuously tried on different swimsuits and tropical getups. She looked up and saw a bikini decorated with flames. That made her think back to Team Flare, and what they could possibly be doing in that cave.

'Maybe it is better that I don't think about it.' Thought the heroine as she continued to browse. But despite all the different outfits, Erica couldn't bring her to stop thinking about the team.

Back at the gym, both foreigners were climbing up the wall (of course, Keith was having a little trouble). Once Brett got to the top, he met the gym leader. This man was very tan, and there were some jewels in his hair. He looked like a guy into sports.

"We hereby challenge-Keith?" Brett turned to his right to see his friend struggling to climb up the wall.

"huff..huff...huff..What he said!" Keith pointed to his friend.

"Very well. I, Grant, accept your challenge. However I can only take on one of you at a time. So the other will have to come back later."

Brett stepped forward while Keith tried to catch his breath. Grant sent out his first partner, a tiny fossil pokemon that to closely reminds me of an infamous reptile, Tyrunt. The black-haired veteran sent out his Honedge too combat.

Back outside the gym, Erica was wondering around the shore line. She was observing the ocean's beauty during the setting of the sun. 'Such a beautiful sight really makes me happy.' That last word rang in her head for a bit, happy. Erica then remembered how that first grunt stated that they would make it so that only they could be happy. The protagonist started glancing around, trying to figure out what that could possibly mean.

"Maybe it's some kind of unrealistic goal." Whispered Erica.

Back to the gym battle, Brett's Honedge had succeeded in defeating Grant's Tyrunt. After retrieving his partner, Grant sent out another fossil pokemon, a cute little ice type called Amaura. But Grant was caught off guard to see that Brett also had an Amaura.

"What? You have an Amaura too?"

Keith was also caught off guard, he wondered when that could've happened.

"Yep, but I call him Artic. Start with icy wind." Artic blew wind towards his counterpart.

The other took the hit. "Use thunder wave."

The opponent shot an electric current to his opponent. Artic was now slowing down. "Body slam." Both pokemon tackled against each other.

Brett and Grant were nervous as their pokemon clashed. One of the Amaura fell down, but neither could tell who it belonged to. The victor's neck shivered, confirming that it was Artic.

"Yes I won!" Cheered Brett as Grant gave him a Cliff Badge.

"Well done, I will await the next match tomorrow." Said Grant, looking at a still exasperated Keith.

Brett left the gym carrying Keith, who was still trying to catch his breath. By the end of the day, they ran into Erica. She was very deep in thought about Team Flare.

"You ok?" The blond was brought out of her thoughts by her friends. She then realized that even if they came face to face with Team Flare again, she wouldn't be alone.

"Yeah, I'm good."

Thanks for reading this chapter. Hoped you liked it. If you want, you could leave a like, or a review. Or, something? In the next chapter, Erica's travels take her to the reflection cave where she does some reflecting on herself.


	9. Chapter 9

Disclaimer: Pokémon is not under my possession. But the third moon of Feigna is.

"Speech"

'Thought'

_'Sign Text'_

**'Electronic Speech'**

It was early in the afternoon in Cyllage city. Erica was inside the gym, climbing up the rocky wall to challenge the gym leader. As she traversed the wall, she became exhausted. 'Now I know why Keith was worn out yesterday.'

Once she got to the top, she was met with the gym leader. "You're here to challenge me?" Erica nodded without hesitation.

Grant sent out Tyrunt first. Erica sent out Venus.

"Use dragon claw." The dinosaur slashed its claw onto the, well, other dinosaur.

"Venus use your vine whip." The green dinosaur used its tentacles to wrap up Tyrunt and bring him closer. "And now use sleep powder." The larger flower puffed out the teal dust that put Tyrunt to sleep. With the tiny car ripper asleep, there was nothing to stop it from being assaulted by many vine whips.

The gym leader retrieved his defeated pokemon and sent out Amaura in its place. "Use your icy wind." The cute dinosaur blew its cold wind towards the grass dinosaur, which dealt a lot of damage as a result.

"Quick use poison powder!" Venus's flower launched purple gas that started a poisoning in her opponent. "And attack with bullet seed." Venus pointed her flower towards Amaura again and launched many seeds at a high speed.

"Use thunder wave." The little sails on Amaura's head began to flash before releasing an electric current onto the Ivysaur. "And now use icy wind."

Amaura blew its tiny (and cute) wind onto its opponent, ultimately defeating Venus. Erica was a little shocked at this turn of events, but she soon noticed that Amaura had a bit of a green face. It then fell over with swirls in its eyes, defeated by poisoning.

Because Erica had three other pokemon that were still capable of battling, she won the match. Grant walked over to her and handed her the Cliff Badge. The blond bowed, thanking him for the match.

In the local pokemon center, Brett was fidgeting around with his holo-caster, and Keith appeared to be mulling over something. The glasses-wearing trainer was broken out of his thoughts by his friend. "What're thinking about over there?" Keith turned to see that Brett had an extremely bored face.

"I was thinking about that group, Team Flare." Answered Keith with a serious expression.

"I wouldn't worry about it too much. They might be weak, and the two of use are pretty strong." Keith couldn't deny that as he had easily beaten the gym leader that morning. He couldn't help but think that Erica was also becoming a strong trainer.

And cue said novice. Erica walked over to the counter to get her Ivysaur healed up. She then walked over to her friends. "So how did it go?"

"Pretty easy, Venus was all I needed." Boasted Erica. She looked over towards a map of the Kalos region. "We're going up north next right?" Keith nodded.

"Yeah, we'll be making a loop around towards Lumiose city, this is what Sycamore recommended for us prior to coming here." Just in time, Erica's pocket monster was all healed up.

The trio then departed from the city to head up north. As they journeyed through this new route, they were met with a lot of peculiar stones. In a way, they seemed to represent ruins. Keith took a moment to mull it over.

'Does this region have some sort of history?' Brett turned to Erica. "What are these?"

"They're called the standing stones, nobody knows where they came from. They get the name from the fact that they look like they're standing in line." Answered the blond heroine. She walked over to one of the stones and touched the surface. A strange shiver ran down her spine.

'What is this feeling? Is it...sorrow?'

It was then that Brett had spotted something familiar, Team Flare.

"Hey you!" Brett had quickly switched over towards an angry attitude.

"What do you want?"

"Lets fight!" The blond was broken out of her thoughts by her friend's outburst. Erica stepped in front of Brett to stop him.

"I'll handle this one." The grunt sent out a Gulpin.

"Get em Psyedge." She threw out her Kirlia to fight.

"Gulpin use smog." The blimp of a pokemon blew a deadly gas towards Psyedge.

"Dodge and use confusion." The ballet pokemon followed its trainers commands perfectly.

Gulpin was now confused as a side effect of the attack. "Snap out of it!"

Gulpin hurt itself in its confusion, which left it vulnerable to another psychic attack. The grunt retrieved his pokemon and fled. Psyedge limped over to its trainer.

"What's wrong?" Erica was surprised at how her pokemon could be hurt.

"This shouldn't be too surprising." Said Keith. "Kirlia and Ralts are more-so meant for show rather than battle." Erica retrieved her pokemon with a sullen look.

"So did I make a bad choice?"

"Of course you didn't!" Yelled Brett, surprising his friends. "Any pokemon can amount to anything. Remember that Kirlia can also evolve into Gallade."

Erica pulled out her pokedex to search for this pokemon. Gallade was shown as a pokemon that only a male Kirlia could evolve from if it is exposed to a dawn stone. The blond put away the device, she didn't have said item.

"Oh well, I'm bound to find one sometime. Right?" Her mood changed quickly.

They continued down the road as they encountered other trainers, including more TF grunts. Erica took the pleasure of defeating them as well.

After the long trek, they made their way into Geosenge town. A very strange town that had three giant rocks right in the center of it. Brett thought it was kinda cool.

"It's like a giant claw!" Erica tried to not fantasize that would look like.

But guess who? Another grunt from you-know-who. It goes without saying that some of our heroes were upset at this. Specifically the one with black hair who isn't that bright.

"Where do they keep coming from!?" Brett then chased the guy, his friends following after him.

But once the got to the end of the track, they found a giant rock. But nothing else in sight. Enter frustrated Brett. He tried to break the rock with his fists.

"He's not going to get anywhere with that. Is he?" Asked Erica.

"Nope, he's always been like this." Replied Keith. It was then that an idea popped into the blond's head, when did her teacher's meet?

"How did you two meet?" Keith showed a little surprise, he tilted his head to recall the memory.

"He beat me in a bike race." Said Keith as he reflected on that memory.

Erica and Keith tried to pry Brett from the rock, but they had to ask his Snorlax to do it for him.

The trio spent a little while waiting for their pokemon to be healed up. Afterwards, they decided to continue onward.

Moving along to the east, they came upon another cave. This one was called Reflection Cave. There was a sign next to the entrance.

_'Sometimes you see things.'_

Before they entered, Erica got a message on her holo-caster. It was Professor Sycamore.

**'You all seem to be doing good on this journey. You're heading to Shalour city next, right? Well there is someone there called the Mega Evolution Guru. He should be able to help with unraveling the mystery.'** The message ended.

They then entered reflection cave. As the name implies, the cave is full of reflective rocks. Erica looked around, admiring her own reflection.

"Wow, I'd ask what a diva would be doing in a run-down place like this." Boasted Erica as she looked at herself. Keith turned to Brett, who just shrugged his shoulders.

They continued through the cave until they came upon Tierno. And as you can guess, he was messing around with dancing.

"One..two...one...two..thr-Hi Erica." He stopped his dance as soon as he noticed his friend.

"Hi Tierno, how is you dance team going?" Asked Erica, curious about her friend's progress.

"I am getting closer every second. I can feel it." Tierno did his casual dance. "What about you two, do you guys ever dance?" Asked Tierno.

"Well...thats...uh..." Keith was hiding something.

"We both tried and ran into each other." Stated Brett blatantly. Keith sweated at that memory.

Tierno laughed a little at that. You gotta admit, two guys running into each other while dancing can be hilarious.

Keith decided to move on through the cave and Brett followed him. Erica was about to follow till she saw a small pokemon pop out of the ground. It was the rock-fairy type, Carbink. It gave the cutest face, which instantly attracted Erica.

"Kawaii. I gotta catch it!" Erica chased the pokemon down to lower levels.

She didn't even pay heed to the fact that she was getting farther and farther away from her friends. Well, until the Carbink dug underground.

"Wait, come back!" Too late, the little guy was too far below the ground.

Erica then noticed that this room had a lot of mirrors. But they couldn't reflect anything further than 3 feet away. So Erica came close to it. Then a boy with brown hair, who was turned away from the mirror, appeared.

If Erica had to guess, he was about 10. She turned around to greet the boy.

But there was nobody there.

She turned around to see that his reflection was still there. "Is somebody there?" She asked.

It didn't respond. Instead it turned around to look at her. It had a worried look on its face, an eyepatch covered the right eye. But the strangest thing was that it looked like...

"Keith?" The image disappeared, and then another image of a young boy appeared. He had black hair, and a monotonous face. "Brett?"

Then that image disappeared, Erica was starting to feel very insecure. As if things weren't bad enough, another image appeared. It was in the form of a young girl in a school outfit, she looked like she was crying. All that the trainer could do was let out a sharp gasp.

On the ground level our heroes were looking for their lost friend. They heard a scream echo through the caves. It sounded like Erica.

"Come on, this way!" Brett ran in the direction and Keith quickly followed.

They ran down to the lower levels to find Erica crouched on the ground. She had her hands over her head and she was trembling. Her friends went over to comfort her.

"Hey now, its alright. We're here for you Erica." Said Keith as he brought her up.

Erica tried to calm herself but to no avail. Brett patted her on the head. "It's alright, everything's gonna be fine." He offered his signature smile, strangely that helped. She then looked to her teachers with very observant eyes.

"Whats wrong?"

"Uh nothing, lets move on."

So they trekked through the rest of the cave to the exit. Once they got outside, they were met with the sight of Shalour city. And off in the distance they could see the Tower of Mastery.

Erica thought over what had recently happened and mustered enough courage to ask.

"Hey Keith, have you ever worn an eyepatch?" Keith's eyes widened at that. He turned around with a very serious and questioned expression.

"Well...yeah. I got into a fight with some criminals a while back. They got me real good." Said Keith.

Erica's eyes widened a little. Brett looked at his friend sympathetically.

"Since you're sharing something like this, maybe it's only fair that I do so to." They both turned to him.

"My real name isn't Brett." Erica's face greatly widened in shock.

"But, it's the name that I want everyone to know me by. It's the name I want to keep." He gave a happy smile.

"Brett, Keith.." They both offered smiles that reminded her of their friendship.

Erica smiled too. She then realized that no person can go throughout their life without suffering. Suddenly, the blond's pain from her childhood seemed a lot lighter.

"Now, to the Tower of Mastery. For mega evolution!" Yelled Brett.

Erica and Keith laughed at their friend's bluntness. Times like this were what Erica really needed, just to have fun with friends. It's what everyone needs.

Thanks for reading this chapter. I hoped you liked it. If you did please leave a review dor something. Next time, our trio approaches the Tower of Mastery, and the three begin to challenge the gym of Shalour.


	10. Chapter 10

Disclaimer: I don't own pokemon. But I'm gambling for the fourth moon.

"Speech"

'Thought'

When we left off, our heroes had made a long trek from Cyllage city to Shalour city. And Erica learned very important things regarding her teachers.

Keith noticed the tower and gestured his friends over to it. "I suppose that is where he is."

While they walked along the beach trail that lead to the giant tower, Erica saw something glimmer in the water. She went over to pick it up and found it to be a round gem. It had shades of blue, red, and yellow. It shined brilliantly in the sunlight.

"Pretty." Whispered Erica.

"Hey, you coming?" Brett snapped her out of her thoughts. She quickly dried the stone and tucked it into her pocket. "Uh yeah!"

Once they entered the tower, Brett was in shock at what they saw. It was a giant statue of the pokemon Lucario, but something was different. Its fur and bands were longer. It had more spikes, and dots of red.

Keith caught sight of his friend's surprise and nudged him. "You alright?"

"Thats the pokemon that I saw in Aquacorde town." Keith also showed surprise, now even more interested in mega evolution.

There appeared to be a room, built right under the statue (doesn't seem structurally safe). Regardless, they entered into it. Inside was Korrina and an elderly man. If Erica had to guess, he was probably her grandfather. Korrina did look a little bit different, she didn't have her helmet on this time. Erica was surprised to see her friend here.

"Korrina, it's nice to see you again." Exclaimed the heroine happily. But at first, Korrina had a dull look on her face.

"Oh, I remember you three." Said Korrina as the gears started moving in her head.

"This is my grandfather, he is the Mega Evolution Guru." Said Korrina as she introduced her grandfather.

Keith's glasses were glowing. Brett narrowed his eyes. Neither Korrina nor her grandfather caught on to this, but Erica could just sense that something bad was just about to happen.

"I take it that you're all here to learn about mega evolution?" Here we go.

Silence held for a few seconds, then Brett and Keith stormed him with questions. The speed at which they were speaking was inhuman. It was impossible to interpret their words, because they were so fast. Their student ended up grabbing the collar's of their shirts, and to pull them back. Korrina gave a look of question and surprise.

"Seriously, you two have to get this under control." Sighed Erica with a tired expression.

"It kinda surprises me that neither of you act anything like this when it is time for a gym battle." Korrina's ears perked up at that.

"Wait you guys are challenging gyms?" Asked the roller skater. Erica nodded, she pulled out her case that had her Insect Badge and her Cliff Badge.

Korrina took a moment to examine the objects. Erica was growing nervous that she might not believe that the badges were actually real. Korrina turned her head to the other two who were lying on the ground.

"You guys too?" They both nodded in response. Korrina's face was now a wide grin, she took out her helmet and slapped it on her head.

"Then I accept the challenge from all three of you." It was at that moment that the blond protagonist grew a very surprised face.

"You?" Korrina nodded.

Surprises come when you least expect it.

The MEG (thats what we'll call him now) regained his composure from his earlier assault and laughed a little.

"It must be good to be young. But aren't there supposed to be more of you?" He was right, three of them weren't here yet.

But then they could here voices from outside.

"Hey there are some great acoustics for dancing in here!" Thats one.

"What pokemon is that? Is it even in the pokedex?" Thats two.

"Wow so cool! I hope that I could find one like it!" Thats three. We're out!

Erica walked out of the room to greet with all her friends. It took her moment to realize it, but this had been the first time that all of them had been together since Lumoise city.

"You know, we really haven't all been together like this since we were in Lumiose." Stated Erica with a wink. Shauna put her finger on her chin and looked up towards the ceiling.

"Wow, has it really been that long?" Asked Shauna.

"Yeah I guess it has." Trevor walked over to his blond friend.

"How is your journey going along?" Erica didn't know whether to feel happy to answer or not.

"It has had its ups and downs. Brett and Keith really have taught me a lot, but boy can they get into trouble." Answered Erica as she thought back to when Brett tried to destroy a rock, and when Keith lead them into the cave.

Once everyone was in the room, MEG began to explain mega evolution.

"I assume that Sycamore has told you about the process of mega evolution?"

"Only that pokemon who can no longer evolve can do it." Answered Trevor.

"Thats true, but there is more to it. The trainer has to possess a key stone to activate it. And the pokemon has to be holding a mega stone corresponding to its species."

Erica, Keith, and Brett perked up at hearing this and whipped out the stones that Sycamore gave them. MEG gave a look of surprise at this.

"Yes, those are three of the stones!"

"But where can we find a keystone?" Asked Brett.

"Well I have three of them. One of them is with me, and the other two are missing somewhere in this tower." He held out a black ring that had the keystone embedded into it. The key stone had some kind of wavy pattern, but it was decorated with a rainbow.

Brett and Keith's eyes were glowing. Erica was getting ready to stop them from fighting for it when-

"I'm gonna find it!"

"Gotta find that ring!"

They both started to run around the place looking for either one of the rings.

All of Erica's friends gave the same incredulous look, they all turned towards her with a look of question. She sighed and gave a weak smile. "Yep, everyday."

"Well, now all we have to do is find out who gets the last Mega Ring." Said the MEG.

"My main goal is the pokedex." Said Trevor.

"I don't think that would go well with my dance team."

"I think Erica would be the best choice."

Erica turned to her friends with a happy look. "Really guys?" They all nodded with smiles.

"Oh thank you." She gave a great smile at this. She turned back to MEG and accepted the mega ring.

"Got it!"

"Found one!"

Both Brett and Keith returned holding the mega rings. They were about to put them on their wrists. But Korrina swerved by and took them. She also took the one that Erica had.

"What gives Korrina?" Erica was a little mad at this.

"Sorry, but I'd like to test you to see if you are really worthy of this."

Strangely, they all got the message. A gym battle.

They approached the gym that lied on the west side of the town. Once inside, they found it to be a giant skating ring.

"Why is it always so illogical?" Asked Erica.

"It's some kind of alien technology. Perhaps the author?" Inquired Keith.

Somewhere, there was a wall that was cracking, and an author who was becoming very upset. Brett nudged his friend.

"Don't break the 4th wall."

They needed to use roller skates to reach the area. Keith stepped up to be the first challenger. After clearing out challengers, Keith came upon Korrina to challenge her.

"Oh hey Glasses." Keith mulled over that comment a little.

'Does she not remember my name?'

"Anyways, I will battle all of you. But you first, Glasses." Said Korrina as she pointed to Keith.

"You do remember that my name is Keith, right?"

Instead of answering, she threw out a pokeball that contained a Mienfoo. Keith responded by throwing out a pokemon that looked like a Flabebe with a little age, a Floette.

"When did it evolve?" Asked Erica.

Mienfoo charged forth to attack the tiny fairy pokemon, and Keith anticipated that.

"Use baby doll eyes." Sparkles shined from the pokemon's eyes, weakening the incoming attack.

The Mienfoo's attack was weakened. But it still hit.

"Use baby doll eyes again." Floette followed Keith's commands.

"Mienfoo, use body slam." The tiny mongoose finished of the fairy as Keith retrieved his pokemon.

"Now Binnacle." Keith sent out a pokemon that was a thick rock with two claw arms, with faces.

"Use mach punch." The mongoose rushed forward. But its attack was greatly weakened from earlier.

"Aerial ace." The attack from the muscle pokemon did more damage.

Korrina recalled her pokemon and sent out her next choice, the classical beefed-up Machoke. "Use karate chop." The humanoid pokemon slashed down with a massive force.

Binacle didn't stand a chance. Keith recalled it and sent out his next pokemon, Charmeleon. It had evolved from Keith's Charmander earlier, now it had red skin with a crest on its head.

"Slash." The fire salamander slashed with its claws.

"Karate chop." Both attacks collided at the same time, but Machoke fainted. The slash was a critical hit.

Korrina sent out her final choice, Hawlucha. It looked just like a masked wrestler with a hawk mask and wing cape.

"Now use your aerial ace." The flying-fighting type pokemon took to the wing to attack. Keith's pokemon saw this coming and quickly jumped out of the way. But the bird jumped around to attack with aerial ace again and again.

Keith kept his calm composure to bring out a solution to winning. "Charmeleon, fire spin." The fire lizard spun rapidly around itself.

When hawlucha came in to attack, it rose back up and hit the ceiling. Korrina had a look of surprise as Keith gave the final order.

"Slash." Charmeleon jumped up and delivered a smashing slash. The attack was once again, critical.

Hawlucha fainted, Keith had won.

Korrina handed him the badge and congratulated him. She turned to Erica and Brett.

"Alright Erica, meet me at the tower. And I'll battle Muscle later."

Brett sulked at that nickname as Erica left to go to the tower. She couldn't help but wonder why they couldn't battle here. Perhaps there was something important to discuss? Either way, this gym battle was going to be very different from what you thought it was gonna be.

Hey guys, thanks for reading this chapter. Thanks to the antics of Keith, my wall has to be repaired now. That is gonna cost a lot of money, ugh. In the next chapter, Erica will battle with Korrina and dive deeper to understand how to bond with a pokemon.


	11. Chapter 11

Disclaimer: I don't own pokemon. If I did, Giovanni would be much more of a difficult opponent.

"Speech"

'Thought'

Erica was ready to challenge the gym leader and earn her next badge. But she didn't expect it to be against Korrina, or even to be out of the gym. Never-the-less, she climbed the tower with Korrina. The spiral staircase ended and led to a balcony that gave a great view.

Erica was caught speechless at the sight of such. She ran towards the edge and looked over at the breath taking horizon.

"I can see my house from here." Yelled Erica, trying to be hysterical.

"Really?" Korrina wasn't so sure to believe this. The challenger couldn't help buy laugh at her friend's gullible question.

"No. But that aside, why did you decide for us to meet up here?"

"Well, I want to test your abilities with the mega ring." Korrina then pulled out two pokeballs and released two Lucarios, both of them had collars with a gem attached to it. The stones looked like the one Sycamore gave to Erica, except that they were colored with crimson, blue, and dunce. The athlete walked over and gave her opponent a mega ring.

"But I didn't even earn this." Protested Erica, Korrina just shook her head in response.

"This will also count as a gym battle. If you lose, I will take the ring back from you." Korrina turned to one of her Lucario on the right, she motioned for him to walk over to Erica.

"He will be your pokemon, this will be a one on one battle." The challenger suddenly became unsure.

Under normal circumstances, the challenger would use the pokemon that they had caught. This battle seemed both cheap and fair at the same time. Although Erica would be getting a pokemon pre-trained for her match, she would also have the disadvantage as it was one that she had no training with. The stakes were even higher, with both a gym badge and the rights to mega evolution on the line.

Erica mulled that over for a moment. Accepting the terms, she pulled out her pokedex to scan Lucario for his moveset. But she still couldn't understand the purpose of this kind of battle. The protagonist shook her head in frustration.

"I still don't understand why you would want to battle me in such a different manner than the others." Korrina sighed and patted her helmet.

"I have no doubt that your two friends can handle the power of the mega ring, but I'm not so sure about you." Explained the gym leader.

Erica took a couple steps back, her face bore the look of unease. She almost felt offended by that lasting remark. After everything she had already gone through, there was this criticism that awaited her?

"What about me is it that makes you so unsure?" Asked the heroine with a face of seriousness. Her opponent cupped her chin and thought about that for a moment.

"Well...lets see...it's kinda hard to explain...I guess the best way to interpret it is that you have little faith in your abilities from time to time." That really hit the blond hard.

Erica froze at that answer. Where in her heart did she doubt herself? The novice looked deeply into herself for an answer as to what Korrina meant. She found none. Without any solid answer, Erica bit her lip in frustration.

"I have no doubt that you have skill, your aura shows that easily. But I question whether or not you have faith in yourself or your pokemon." Korrina held up her left hand, revealing a keystone in her left glove.

Erica's face looked angry, stuck in confusion. But then a look of concentraition appeared on her face as she slapped the ring on and nodded her head. Several tense seconds passed. As seconds passed by, she could feel the knowledge of the mega ring flowing into her.

"Bring it on!" Challenged Erica.

"Alright, lets do this!" Yelled Korrina.

Both trainers activated the mega ring. The Lucarios transformed into the form that resembled the statue. And they both let out the same fearsome cry that echoed throughout the city. Both charged forth and began the battle.

"Lucario, use power-up punch on the ground." Commanded Erica.

"Jump and use bone rush." Countered Korrina.

"Dodge it." Both trainers were at their maximum.

From the city, Brett and Keith were (for once) not battling and enjoying time at the local cafe. Brett perked his head up when he heard a strange sound. He turned to the tower out of curiosity. Keith caught sight of this and also looked in the same direction.

"What is it?"

"An epic battle taking place."

"Are they legendaries?"

"No, but close." Keith pondered over that last comment for a bit.

"And Erica is involved." Keith did a double take at that last remark.

He smiled a few seconds after, confident in his friend's abilities. On the tower, Erica and Korrina continued their epic battle.

"Use your bone rush attack!" Commanded Erica. Her Lucario focused its energy and created a bone to whack the other with.

"Block it." The opposing Lucario put up its fist to stop the attack.

"Nani?" Korrina was losing faith in Erica's skill.

"Swords dance." Korrina's pokemon positioned itself in a fighting stance to raise its attack power. Erica knew she had to fight back.

"Use metal sound!" The fighting type scratched its barbs to create an shrill sound. Erica then realized her mistake that her choice would make this any easier since all of her partner's attacks were physical, not special.

At this moment, Korrina was sure that Erica couldn't make use of the mega ring. She sighed in disappointment.

"I'm sorry, but now you will lose." Her Lucario nodded.

The pokemon thrust itself forward for one final attack. Time slowed down for Erica. If she didn't make the right move, she would lose. Korrina's lucario charged forth, it was impossible to tell what attack it would use.

Erica carefully calculated what to do. But she contemplated over what Brett and Keith taught her. And nothing was coming up to help her. It was then that Erica began to feel like there was nothing that she could do to win. All that ran through Erica's mind was that she couldn't win and that it was hopeless. The image of the young little girl, stuck in her one state of sorrow, bounced around inside the consciousness of the challenger.

Suddenly she remembered the small gem from earlier. Red, strength. Yellow, wisdom. Blue, spirit. That all resonated within Erica's head. And then, her confidence in herself was reignited.

"Lucario, charge through." Commanded Erica. Her partner ran straight for it, regardless of the impending risk.

Once the two fighters were within range of each other, it was do or die.

"Now!" It was then somehow, that Erica lined her aura with her pokemon's. Lucario ducked with a split second to spare. Having ducked, he dodged his counterpart's oncoming attack.

"Finish it!"

The punch of one landed against the. Korrina and her pokemon were left speechless. All was silent for more than a few seconds, then the gym leader's pokemon collapsed to the ground.

Korrina's lucario fainted, Erica won.

Korrina returned her pokemon. Both of the pokemon reverted back into their base form and were returned to their pokeballs. Erica took a deep breath and walked over to her competitor, serious expressions colored across their faces.

"Thank you for that, and the match." Erica bowed in thanks. Korrina couldn't help but laugh.

"Congratulations, that was a really good match." She shook Erica's hand and gave her the Rumble badge. The heroine was left a little too much surprise. But then she started to laugh as well.

"You know, I could tell you where to get Lucarionite if you wanted to." Offered Korrina. Erica shook her head in response.

"I appreciate the offer, but I think that I want to unlock the potential of this one first." She held up the mega stone, Venusarite. She then handed the back the other Lucario.

Korrina shrugged her shoulders and left the balcony. With a few moments by herself, Erica contemplated on how she now felt. Smart, strong, and in tune with her spirit, but she still had ways to go.

She turned around to leave and reunite herself with her companions. After descending from the tower, Erica met back up with her friends.

"How did the match go?" Asked Brett.

"It was epic." Answered Erica happily. Keith stood up and walked next to her.

"Thought as much." He took a look at the mega ring on her wrist.

"So Korrina gave that to you?" Erica nodded. The brown haired trainer then started towards the next route. The black haired trainer sat where he was. Without a word from either, Erica decided to follow Keith.

Erica and Keith continued along the next route too see what pokemon were around. Brett stayed behind to train some more for his gym battle.

The route was dotted with islands here and there, but there was a gap of water that was far too big for the them to cross without a surfing pokemon. Keith took notice of the farm that was on the other side. Erica seemed pretty excited about it.

"Really?"

"Yeah, I mean, who wouldn't want to pet farm pokemon?" Suggested our blonde protagonist.

"That makes sense. But you should wait for Brett. He is an expert on farm pokemon." Erica had a little hard time believing that. Come on, Brett? The battle maniac of the pokemon world?

Before they could make a crossing to the next island, Erica noticed some pokemon fighting each other. They resembled sheep, aside from their orbs and the fact that they were blue. They were Mareep. The battle seemed more of a gang fight on one Mareep.

Erica threw a great ball at the one challenging the others. They were about to fight her, but she released her menacing glare. The scared little sheep ran away. Keith walked over and used his pokedex to analyze the newly captured pokemon.

"This one is relatively weak. You're gonna train it, I presume?"

"Yeah, I'll go back to Cyllage city. There should be plenty of water types to battle there." She turned to pokeball.

"And I think I'll name you Laxus."

"Laxus?" Asked Keith who apparently never watched Fairy Tail.

He handed her a good rod. "You'll need it for to pick up good battles."

So the next day, Erica returned to Shalour city after training Laxus to become a member of her team. She found Brett and Keith at the city exit. As the student came closer to her teachers, she noticed that they too had mega rings.

"Hi guys, sorry I took so long." She ran over to the exit to greet them.

"Hey Erica, was your training successful?" Asked Keith. She nodded and released Laxus from his pokeball, only this time, he was pink and bipedal.

"Yep, Laxus has leveled up into a Flaffy, and also..." She opened up a sixth pokeball that contained a new pokemon. The seaweed pokemon, Skrelp.

The poison-water type looked up a Keith and Brett a little reluctantly, before waddling behind his trainer's leg. "Don't worry, Dragulong is just a little shy."

Brett reached into his pocket and pulled out a gem. It was teal with what looked like a sparkle in the center. He tossed it over to Erica. She was a little curious about what it could be.

"Not to look a gift-Ponyta in the mouth, but what is this?" Asked the blond as she examined her gift.

"It's a dawn stone. I found it in the bay, and I think you'd might make good use of it." It took only a few seconds till Erica became excited as she knew what that meant.

Erica ran over to Brett and hugged him, very tightly. When she released her friend, the blond found that her small gemstone from yesterday fell out. She quickly reached down and picked it up.

"Where did you find that?" Asked Keith.

"Oh, it was in the bay yesterday. Do you think that it could be a mega stone?" Keith took the stone and examined it closely.

"I can't tell. But you should hold onto it." He returned the stone to his friend. The blond agreed, she had no plans to get rid of it from the start.

Erica released her Kirlia proceeded to use the dawn stone on him. He evolved into the sword-armed, psychic-fighting type, Gallade.

'Thank you for my evolution. Mistress.'

Erica gawked, Psyedge was now mentally connected to her?

"I can hear you in my head? But how?"

"Sometimes, if a humanoid psychic pokemon shares a strong enough bond with its trainer, they can share mental thoughts from time to time." Explained Brett.

"Oh, well thats great then. Are you ready for the battles ahead, Psyedge?"

'Yes my mistress.' That name didn't really sit well with Erica.

"Uh, can you call me something besides mistress?" Asked Erica.

'How about queen?'

"No." Answered Erica quickly. Too young for that

'What if I call you princess?'

"No." Too old for that.

'Erica-sama?' Offered the psychic type.

"Oh yeah, I like the sound of that."

Brett and Keith just stood off to the side shaking their heads. The trio began to exit the city to head on through the islands ahead. But Erica took on last look at the tower before leaving.

Thank you for reading this chapter, hope you enjoyed it. If you didn't know, when you add 'sama' to the end of somebody's name it means respect to that person. It kinda makes sense considering that most pokemon respect their trainers. In the next chapter, Erica will take on the fourth gym, as well as meeting up with the famous movie star. You can't be told who, because that'll build up little suspense.


	12. Chapter 12

Disclaimer: I don't own pokemon. But if I did, there'd be more of the distortion world to explore.

"Speech"

'Thought'

_'Sign Text'_

**_'Eletronic speech'_**

In the last chapter, Erica had fought hard against Korrina and earned the mega ring. Along with that, she also completed her team of six.

Now our heroes continue their adventure rounding the Kalos region. Now that they had all obtained the mega rings and third gym badges, they would now head to Courmarine city. As they headed through the route gate, Erica could've sworn that she heard somebody talking in German. She just shrugged it off as nothing.

On the outside, the trio was met with a familiar obstacle, crossing water. And am I the only one that finds it weird that they need a pokemon to help get them to cross a small body of water? I know that it's seawater, but still.

"Don't we need a pokemon that knows surf?" Asked Erica.

"On it." Brett released his snorlax, Laxer.

"Alright, hop on." They climbed on the giant pokemon and rode across the waves. Keith was just sitting patiently while Erica was pondering how Brett was able to teach a big pokemon like Snorlax how to surf (no offense intended).

"Hey Brett, I've got a question."

"I've got an answer."

"How were you able to teach this pokemon how to surf like this? I know that there are HMs that can help you teach your pokemon but I'm still curious." The black haired veteran obliged by pulling out a cylindrical case and pressing the button on the bottom. It flat opened to reveal many TMs and HMs.

"Do you want to borrow this so you could teach it to one of yours?" Offered Brett.

Erica, who was caught in the sight of the many colored disks, didn't think that that would be too much of a good idea. She only had two pokemon that could learn surf, and both were smaller than here. Politely, she turned her mentor down.

Once they got to the other side, Erica noticed the farm and decided to storm for a pokemon to pet. Keith just sighed at his student's eccentric attitude. Said student ran into the fields where the pokemon were. The pokemon inhabiting the field were grass types that looked like goats. One of the cuter pokemon, Skiddo.

"Ah kawaii." Gushed Erica at the sight of Skiddo jumping around one another.

Brett walked by and inspected the pokemon. For once, he was analytical. He hopped onto one of the pokemon.

"Alright, ikimashou!" The Skiddo ran across the plains while Brett held on to its horns for direction.

Keith cocked an eyebrow and jumped on a nearby Skiddo. He mimicked as best he could and chased his friend to the other side of the plains. Erica's eyes were gleaming with how fun that looked, and she decided to join in on the fun too.

Looking around, the novice found another Skiddo and jumped onto it.

"Forward!" Yelled Erica as she pointed forward. The Skiddo didn't really respond to her.

"Uh, ikimashou?" Suddenly, the Skiddo's eyes seemed a little angry. It reared up and steam blew from its nostrils.

Keith and Brett waited patiently on the other side of the plains for their friend to show up. A few seconds later, Erica was holding onto the backside of the Skiddo as it ran across the plains.

"I'm never gonna look at skiddo the same way again." Grumbled Erica as she got off the seemingly cute grass type.

"I thought you said that your mother taught you a lot about riding pokemon." Said Keith. Erica twitched at that statement, and turned in the opposite direction with a nervous smile.

"Yeah, I didn't really pay that much attention." Laughed the protagonist in a nervous manner. Smooth move.

They continued along the route as they battled more wild pokemon and trainers. When they started to get closer to the next town, Erica stopped and pulled out a map.

"We should be heading to Courmarine city next. It is a pretty big city, with a nice ocean harbor." Stated the blond.

Then a bird pokemon with a music note on its head appeared out of nowhere and attacked Erica. On instinct, the heroine pulled out her pokedex to scan the pokemon. The data revealed it as a Chatot, a pokemon that specialized in sound attacks. She replied by sending out her Ivysaur.

"Venus, use poison powder." The grass dinosaur shot out a spray of purple powder.

Even though the bird pokemon was poisoned, it still fought good. It let out a harsh shriek. On reflex, Erica covered her ears as the shriek was very loud. When it lifted, she took the opportunity to strike back.

"Use leech seed." Venus shot seeds that stuck to the bird. But despite that, it still let out the discordant noises.

"Finish it of with double edge." The Ivysaur impacted the chatot with a great force, enough to win, and the battle had been decided.

Suddenly a green light enveloped Venus. She grew bigger, and a large flower had appeared on her. She was now a Venusaur.

"Yay for us!" Cheered Erica. She picked out the venusarite and was tempted to mega evolve her partner. But then a thought resonated in her head.

'If Brett and Keith saw me do it...' The heroine couldn't help but think about all the collateral damage that would result from their battle. So she reluctantly put away the mega stone.

Once they entered the city, they were met with an oceanic sight. The city had a large harbor. And like Erica said, the city was so big that it was divided into two different parts. A monorail station was used to connect both parts.

On their way to the monorail station, Erica passed a fruit stand. It had a sign that read, _'Please take one'_. The blondie obliged by taking a pecha berry. Taking a bit out of it, she shivered at how sweet it was.

"Never had a pecha berry?"

"I've tried the smoothies, but I never had one like this." Answered Erica.

Keith looked around and saw where the station was. When they entered they entered the station, professor Sycamore was there with somebody else. A woman who appeared to be in her early thirties with short gray hair. She wore some kind of white dress with wings, dor something.

"Hello professor." Greeted Erica. Keith turned towards the new person.

"And you are?" Asked Brett, informally.

"Good to see you all. This is the movie star Diantha." Said Sycamore as he introduced his friend.

"A pleasure to meet you all. Sycamore has told me a lot about you lot." Said Diantha.

"Did he tell you that Brett and Keith almost destroyed his office?" Whispered Erica.

"Why yes he did. And I must say that I missed that opportunity to see such." Laughed Diantha. Sycamore just sweated at the memory of that event. None-the-less, he regained his composure. He coughed to gain everyone's attention.

"As I understand, you all have obtained the mega rings?" Asked Sycamore. They all showed their rings as proof. "Excellent, now I think there is only one more component left."

"And what would that be?" Diantha seemed almost playful in her manner of asking.

"There needs to be a strong bond between the trainer and the pokemon. A great understanding, which can bring out the full potential of mega evolution." Explained the Professor.

"I suppose you're right." Answered Diantha, she turned to the three to give them some further insight.

"It's the same for acting, you must understand the role you're playing to perform it perfectly." Those words seemed to ring up a little with Erica, like some kind of code.

"That does sound like a valid viewpoint." Noted Sycamore.

"Well, I wish I could stay longer, but there is more to study." Said Sycamore as he left.

"I must be on my way as well, I bid the best of luck to the three of you." Diantha also left the room.

The monorail extended across the ocean, giving a great view of the entire area. Erica gave an open mouth smile at the magnificent sight.

The opposite side of the city gave a great view of the entire mountain, ocean. Erica was again, gazing at the great views.

"This is amazing." Said Erica.

"Have you guys ever rode on something like this?" Asked Erica, trying to be cute again.

"No, not really. Most trains I've been on have been merciless."

Erica was left curious at what that meant. Once on the other side, the view from the cliff was majestic. Erica turned around to see a mountain, with the pokemon league insignia on it. If she told Brett, he would run into there like he was on fire. She instantly had a remedy for that.

"Hey guys, I think that I saw the pokemon league insignia back on the other side." Brett sighed and left to go to the monorail. Keith pinched his nose in an upset manner.

"You sure that it wasn't on the other side?" Asked Keith, his student simply shook her head. He despondently walked over to the monorail.

With them gone, our blonde haired protagonist ran into the gym. Inside, she was met with a giant structure dotted with grass. There were ropes all over the make-shift tree. Erica sighed in exhaustion. She cracked her hands and approached the base.

"This is gonna be a lot of work."

Though it took about ten minutes, she made it to the top of the maze. There was a small library at the top. Inside was an elderly man who was caring a hedge trimmer.

"Well hello there whippersnapper." Greeted the man. "The names Ramos. What did you think of my treehouse playground?"

Erica had to hold back a lot of mean remarks. Come on, who wouldn't be physically tired after that climb (don't answer that). But Erica was a little more upset that this guy called her a kid. Ramos held out a pokeball.

"I assume you're here to challenge me?" Erica pulled out her own pokeball, eagerly.

"Yes. I Erica Tamashii accept your challenge." Ramos sent out a pokemon that resembled dandelions, and it was really light. Another cute grass type, Jumpluff.

Erica responded by sending out Dragulong.

"Use mega drain." The dandelion inexplicably drained out energy from the Skrelp.

"Dragulong, use camuflouge." The rotten kelp changed into a grass type.

"Well, you're on your feet." Commented the gym leader.

"Thank you. And now, Poison tail." Dragulong impacted the Jumpluff with a toxic tail.

"Finish with acid." A spray of deadly poison spilled out onto Jumpluff.

Ramos recalled his pokemon and sent out his next, Weepingbell. A plant trap pokemon that hoisted itself on the roof. Erica also recalled Dragulong and sent out her next choice, Psyedge.

'What can I do for you Erica-sama?'

"Start off with calm mind." Psyedge cleared his thoughts to improve his mental attacks.

"Toxic." The grass pokemon spewed acid onto psyedge, instantly poisoning him.

"Psyedge, use sword dance." The pokemon moved his arms around in the fashion of swords, boosting his attack.

"Weepingbell, attack with razor leaf." A small storm of sharp leaves attacked Psyedge.

"Now confusion." A mental storm was released onto the plant pokemon. Because of the attack boost, the attack was a one hit KO.

With weepingbell down, Ramos had only one pokemon left. But this one was his best, Gogoat.

"That pokemon..." Erica pulled out her pokedex and read about this pokemon. Apparently it was the evolved form of Skiddo. It looked much more intimidating that its pre-evolved form

Shivers ran down her back. 'Psyedge, can you still fight?'

'Yes, but not for long Erica-sama.'

"Alright, lets hit him with a confusion attack." The mental attack stormed the grass goat. But the attack was not that effective.

"That was a little reckless. Use take down." The Gogoat charged with full force onto Psyedge.

He took the hit, but then he collapsed, the poison took its toll. Erica sent out her ace in the hole for this match, Phoenix.

"Start of with take down." The goat jumped and rammed into the bird. Ramos tossed a hyper potion towards his injured pokemon.

"Use ember." Phoenix tossed small flames. Gogoat dodged to avoid the flames.

"Now use leech seed." Gogoat reached back and pulled seeds out that it threw at Phoenix. The seeds were implanted amongst the bird.

"Try aerial ace." Her fletchinder impacted the Gogoat, but hit the horns. The damage was sufficient.

Erica was starting to get desperate in her decisions. Suddenly, a bright light enveloped Phoenix. She was bigger, and her wings now looked like flames. Phoenix evolved into a Talonflame.

"Phoenix, you evolved again?" The giant bird nodded in approval. Erica regained her smile of confidence.

"Then lets use ember."

The fires that impacted Gogoat were now stronger, so blocking with horns wasn't gonna change much.

The effects from leech seed were stating to take more of a toll on the bird. "Uh, use roost." Erica was panicking a little. Small feathers floated around Phoenix, and restored her health.

"Gogoat, use take down." The goat jumped into the air to impact.

"Counter with aerial ace." The two impacted against each other.

Gogoat struggled a bit before falling down. With all three pokemon down, Erica won.

Ramos returned his pokemon and walked over to Erica. "Well, looks like the new young'n's are really bringing in a lot of new things." He handed her the Plant Badge as a reward.

"With your bird that big, you should be able to fly around the region." Erica became amazed at that thought, who wouldn't?

"Thank you for the match, mister." A small wooden door opened, revealing a slide to go down on.

Erica rode down the slide, but she couldn't suppress a 'wee' as she rode down. Upon exiting the gym, she met up with her companions.

"How could you lie to me like that!?" Screamed Brett comically. Erica shrugged her shoulders and gave a nervous smile.

"What can I say, I wanted first dibs."

Erica checked into the hotel for the night while Brett and Keith went to challenge the gym. Today's battle proved that maybe she could stand alone. But she dwelled on that one fact.

'I've always been able to stand on my own, but did I really want to?' She thought about the fear she had prior to it, and her resolve cleared very easily.

'No, I'm happier this way.' She fell to sleep very easily with that happy thought.

In the morning, the trio were readying to leave town. But as they were leaving, Erica was starting to receive a message on the holo-caster. She opened the message to show Lysandre. Erica tensed up a little at the memory of their last encounter.

**_'I've heard from Sycamore that you've acquired the power of mega evolution. I hope that you can use that power to benefit the world.' _**The clip ended and Erica let out a sigh.

"Is something the matter?" Asked Keith.

"I'm just still a little uneasy about the last time." Admitted Erica, looking in the other direction. Brett patted her on the head.

"Well we're sorry about the stress we put on you." Apologized Brett. Erica smiled at her friends' kindness and concern.

They walked out of town into a vast, and hot desert. Erica grunted at this. A large desert with all this heat would not feel good, even if she had a good night's rest.

"Do we really have to walk across, isn't there another way?"

"This desert is a connecter route between north-western Lumoise city and western Kalos. We're gonna have to cross it." Explained Keith.

"That and it would take too long if we went back in the other direction." Said Brett.

With reluctance, Erica walked into the desert. A sudden a gust of wind blew across the plains. And Erica was trying to hold her hat down to avoid it blowing off.

"This wind is really a problem."

"Uh, Erica?" She looked over to her friends to notice that they both had nervous faces. Looking down, Erica let out a sharp scream as she realized her skirt was getting caught on the wind.

It seemed that the hot sun wasn't the only problem that the desert was bringing onto our heroes. Blaring winds that came from time to time were also a problem. The force was so strong that their pace was slowing down.

"When will this end!?" Screamed Erica.

They noticed a man in an orange tux in the distance. Now you do the math of what happens next. Luckily, Erica and Keith saw this coming. They hooked ropes onto Brett as he ran to the team flare member. As Brett was running, fast and powerful winds were blowing on him, slowing him down. Lets just picture that for a moment...hehe.

"What do you want brat? Can't you see that I'm on guard duty?" That instantly got Erica interested in this. She was reluctant about this at first, but now she knew that they had to interfere.

"I want..'huff'...to...'huff'...battle you!" Yelled Brett. Keith walked up and patted his friend's back.

"I'll take care of this one."

Because of how good Keith was, it didn't take him long to beat this guy. "Curse you. Time for a stylish retreat."

As the grunt was preparing to leave, he seemed to be searching himself for something.

"Where is my key, no matter, I will make it look like I still have it so that they don't know." Whispered the grunt to himself. Even though he whispered, Keith and Erica could still hear him.

"Lets get it out of him." Suggested Erica. Keith nodded in approval.

But before they could do anything-

"Got you!" Yelled Brett as he punched the flare grunt, knocking him out.

"Brett, we need to know where he lost the key." Whined Keith.

"Is that what this is?" Asked Brett as he held up a card key.

"Where did you get that?" Asked Keith.

"It was just laying on the ground." Erica and Keith stayed silent for a few seconds at their dumb luck. Erica ended up taking the card and swiping it to get in. Even though they knew that Team Flare was involved, the three had no idea of how dangerous this would become.

Thank you for reading this chapter, I hope that you enjoyed it. If you didn't know, kawaii is the Japanese word for cute. It is often expressed when somebody sees something they think is cute. Also, ikimashou means lets go in Japanese. In the next chapter, Erica and her friends will tackle against Team Flare again. And Erica will have to make a crucial decision.


	13. Chapter 13

Disclaimer: The famous franchise, Pokémon, is not under my possession. But the third and fourth moons of Feigna are.

"Speech"

'Thought'

In the last chapter, our heroes encountered Team Flare yet again. It would seem that they're just fated to encounter them again and again, but this time would be worse than ever. As they entered the building, Erica was looking all around, trying to figure out what this place was. She notice many electrodes decorated the walls. The student turned to her teachers for an answer.

"Is this place some kind of power plant?"

"If I had a guess, I'd say so." Answered Brett.

But as both Brett and Keith continued walking down the corridors, an epiphany hit them both. Power plant, no employees, and an ambitious team were all factors in this. It was then that both of them tensed up.

'It can't be...'

'It's happening again...'

Erica noticed that they had stopped walking, she became curious and concerned. Walking in front of them, she noticed that both of them had faces that were deep in thought. This didn't help her out at all.

"Is something the matter?" Asked Erica. Instead of answering, Keith instantly ran forward. Erica was about to yell at him, but Brett grabbed her arm and helped her catch up.

They continued to run down through the corridors till they encountered another TF grunt.

"Who are you? You kids should scramble, go to the arcade or something." Said the grunt. He was waving his hand like he was expecting them to buzz off.

Erica didn't like being associated with normal kids, so she didn't take this well. She pulled out a pokeball, but Brett stopped her. The student was about to complain about it, until she saw his face. It was so angry, that all words had left her.

"Make us!" Yelled Brett. He released a giant turtle with two water cannons on its shell, Blastoise. Erica wasn't too surprised at how quickly Tyco had evolved.

A battle ensued, and Brett was now merciless. Erica tried to understand just how Brett's pokemon could go through with this. More than that, she was scared of him. The battle ended and Brett turned back to his companions.

"Are you ok?" Asked Erica, a little scared.

"Yeah. Sorry, but this is too serious." Said Brett. He turned to Keith and the two gave a nod towards each other. Erica was very curious about this whole ordeal, and more so, what was wrong with her companions.

Keith started walking towards a door that looked like it lead to the lower levels. His companion, curious about his intent.

"What are you going to do?" Keith turned back with a very serious looking face.

"I'm going to the lower levels to check on the turbines. It's more that likely that they are here to steal power, I'm going to look into stopping it." He pulled his glasses off and rubbed them a little to clear his vision. Turning back, he nodded to Brett, and gave Erica a look that was asking her to be careful.

It was at this point that Erica was lost in her thoughts, worried about the enormity of what could be at stake. She was brought out of her thoughts by her friend putting his hand on her shoulders.

"Erica, this situation is dangerous." Those words combined with his serious face didn't help ease her worry, but the blond listened intently. "I know that you're strong, I've seen you battle. But these people here are serious in their ambitions. If you want to leave, you do it now." Commanded Brett.

The sheer thought of being asked to back down never settled well with this strong girl. But the way that her teachers were acting didn't really settle with her. In the end, Erica nodded a little reluctantly. "Alright, I can do it. I can handle my own."

Brett nodded, but his face remained the same. He then left to check other corridors. "Where are you going?"

"I'm gonna clean out Team Flare. You should go and help save whoever they have taken hostage. And I'll take on their leader." His voice almost dripped with anger as he left.

The novice didn't exactly want to admit it, but she was scared. She knew these two for some time, and know she was scared of how they acted. Erica looked down at her mega ring and remembered that doubting wouldn't help in any way.

'They might be scary, but they are still my friends.' She ran down the third door, trying to look for the hostages.

In the basement, Keith defeated any TF grunt that was unfortunate enough, or stupid enough, to challenge him. It didn't take long before he came upon a door that was rather thick. Reaching behind himself, he pulled out a pokeball and released an all to familiar pokemon. The fire-flying type was large, had wings, and its signature flame on its tail. That's right, Charizard.

"Use flamethrower to melt the door." His dragon released a large amount of fire, which it was good at.

But the flames only left a great large burn mark. This gave Keith irritation as he cursed under his breath. Suddenly he could hear beeping. Turning to his right he could see a timer. It read, 'Time till total shut down.'

"Oh no." Keith's face paled, this couldn't have been worse. If the power here ran out, more than 75% of Kalos would be without power.

He ran over to the panel and pressed random buttons in an attempt to stop the countdown and halt the energy drain. Unfortunately, he had no such luck.

"Dammit!" Keith pulled out his Quallidin to help out.

"Come on guys, lets lift the door." Grunted Keith as he tried to pry the door open. His two starters ran over and tried to help him lift up the door, but not even the combined strength was enough.

Meanwhile, Brett continued to clear out the other grunts that stood in his way. By the large amount that he had defeated, Brett could guess that the next room had the boss and the energy drainer.

However, the next room was another maze with panels to navigate through. The black haired boy could only curse, he hated being a lab rat. But just as he began to navigate through, the lights shut off.

"Dammit. Come on Kyu." Brett released his little fire fox.

"We need some light." She nodded and took out her stick.

Using her psychic powers, she lit the end of the stick on fire. The flame wasn't enough to provide full visual coverage. She drooped her ears in disappointment, but her trainer patted her on the head.

"Come on, lets navigate through." Commanded Brett.

Erica continued through like Brett asked her to. She came upon a large room that had a lot of generators. And unfortunately, a lot of Team Flare. She pulled out Psyedge.

'What can I do for you Erica-sama?'

'Ikimashou!' Psyedge was a little shocked at that quick and loud thougth. But he got moving none-the-less.

It took a great toll on her pokemon, but Erica made it to the main generator at the end of the trail. There were two people right in front of it. One bald man with a white tux and orange glasses. Another was an orange haired woman who wore an orange skirt outfit and some weird visor. She put her two hands on it like she was holding it in front of her face.

"Come on, isn't done yet?" Asked The man.

"Well if you must know, I'm almost done. This is a delicate procedure after all." The woman seemed to be taunting him.

If Erica had to guess, these were the people in charge of Team Flare at the moment. It was then that another thought hit onto Erica. Brett asked her to look for the hostages, but instead she ran right into the belly of the beast. She was about to turn and go get help, but they started talking again.

"This will only take about another minute, why don't you go do something else?" Taunted the woman.

The man didn't seem to like this kind of treatment, he turned to walk away. And it was then that our blond heroine was exposed.

"And who is this?" The woman turned around at hearing that, but she wasn't too interested.

"Oh why weren't those guards defending?" Asked the woman, her tone showed that she probably didn't really care much about this. This was making Erica very suspicious. The man was growing impatient at Erica.

"Well, are you gonna just sit there all day? Or am I gonna have to beat you into the ground?" The man held up his fist, shaking. The other woman turned to him with a smart grin.

"Oh why don't you take your time to defeat this trainer? Since you're too dumb to understand this anyways." Now the guy's head was fuming with anger. He turned to his accomplice with an angry face. "You know what? Shut up Aliana!"

Erica was then able to figure out that this girl was named Aliana. She must've had some kind of authority over this other guy. Speaking of which, he turned to Erica with his angry face.

"I'm just gonna take out my anger onto ya!" Erica tensed up, but pulled out her pokeball.

"Like I'm just gonna give up. Bring it on!" Yelled Erica.

The man launched his pokeball. He released a pokemon that looked like an evolved version of Houndour, Houndoom. Erica sent out her trusted Frogadier. At the time, he and Venus were all that she had left. But Venus's health was too low, and Jirai had type advantage.

"Houndoom, use crunch." The fire hound ran up to bite the ninja frog.

"Jirai, take the hit." The frogadier obeyed and took on the bite, despite the pain. At this moment, Erica was glad that Brett had all those TMs and HMs. Last night, she decided to take advantage of one of them.

"Now use strength." Jirai lifted the houndoom up and threw with great force.

"Finish with water pulse." Jirai launched rings of water that knocked out the houndoom.

"Ah crap!" Yelled the man as he returned the pokemon.

"Yosh, now one to go."

"Well well, aren't you something?" Said Aliana as she walked forward. "Maybe I could get some good data out of you. That admin was so much of a bore anyways." And now Erica was a little surprised, she had beat an admin that easily?

"I'm not about to give up!" Jirai readied himself. Aliana gave a devious grin as she sent out a hound lined with black and gray, Mightyena.

"Mighteyena use crunch." It was the same process all over again.

"Jirai, use water pulse." The frog launched the attack, but it didn't do much. And it didn't stop the oncoming attack, as Mightyena closed the distance. It knocked Jirai around and flung him

"Mighteyena hyper beam." It unleashed a powerful beam that left Jirai with little left.

"Hang on!" Erica ran over to cure Jirai. She knew that hyper beam had a recoil effect, and was ready to take advantage of it.

But it only lasted long enough for her to heal Jirai.

"Now take down." The dark hound charged at Jirai, who pushed Erica out of the way to avoid her getting hurt by the attack.

Erica noticed something for the first time, how dangerous these could be. Her strategies were not pulling through for her, her pokemon were continuously getting hurt. And her friends couldn't help her this time.

"Well there isn't any data that I could get from this." Pouted Aliana, it was clear that she was mocking Erica. The blond bit her lower lip in anger, but that anger soon became fear.

'This is...scary.' Thought Erica, neither Keith nor Brett could bail her out from this one. And for once, all of our protagonists were stumped. Keith couldn't get to the main controls, Brett was lost, and Erica was near defeat.

'What do we do? We've always pulled through somehow.' Erica was about to lose. But instead of to her teachers, she was about to lose enemy. 'There has to be something.'

The thought of all the consequences rushed through her mind. All the pain that she would endure if she let down her friends. Thoughts of being fear emerged as time slowed down. And suddenly a thought of a sunset plains, with two guys teaching her how to battle emerged from that storm of bad thoughts.

"...No." Aliana heard that and it caught her attention well.

"No what?"

"No I can't just give up and lose to you! My friends are depending on me, and I will pull through!"

Suddenly, Jirai started to glow. In the basement, Quallidin started glowing. And in the corridors, Kyu started to glow.

"What?"

"Perfect timing."

"Lets do it!"

Quallidin evolved into its adult form, Chesnaught. A bulk that had a large shell of spikes on its back. And strong arms to lift a tank.

"Alright, lets do this!" Screamed Keith.

With the massive amount of strength, Chesnaught lifted the door wide open. Allowing his trainer access.

Kyu became more of an adult fox with her fur long as a skirt. She had a more humanoid appearance. Kyu evolved into Delphox.

"Can you make a brighter fire now?" Asked Brett. Kyu nodded and threw fires all around to light up the entire room, and because they were psychically controlled, they didn't go out.

"That's the way!" Now Brett could safely navigate through the maze.

Jirai grew larger, with more muscular limbs. The backwards horns grew longer. His tongue slapped around like a ninja scarf. He evolved into Greninja.

"Jirai, you evolved again." Exclaimed Erica. "Can you still fight?" The ninja nodded. Her pokedex beeped, Erica pulled it up showing a new move that Jirai had just learned.

"Alright, use strength." Jirai charged through and impacted the hound with great force.

"Mighteyena, now use crunch!" The dark pokemon bit down with a great force. Erica knew that Jirai had indeed become stronger, but he was still weakened from before.

"Jump back and use your new move." Jirai broke free of the grip.

"Use hyper beam first!" Commanded Aliana. She was confident in her victory, she knew that her Mightyena was faster than the Greninja. But before that could happen, water launched forward and assaulted the pokemon.

Mighteyena had fainted. The new attack, water shuriken, pulled through a reverse victory. Aliana was caught in shock.

"But how?" Erica smirked, her turn to be cocky.

"Water shuriken is an attack that always goes first." Alian had no choice but to return her pokemon.

"Well, I guess there was some data after all. The boss might like this." She threw a smoke bomb.

After the smoke cleared, Erica saw that Brett and Keith were running up to her.

"You pulled through strong didn't you?" Brett patted his friend on her back.

"That was amazing Erica." Commented Keith.

"Thank you, but what is that?" She pointed to the a metal segment on the conduit. Keith and Brett paled at that.

"Thats an energy lock!" They yelled in unison.

"A what?" Erica was clearly lost on this. But by how they sounded worried, she was worried too.

"That device is a road block for any energy heading through the conduit." Explained Keith, he looked down below. "And I set the energy to burst back out."

"We've gotta destroy it now! Or it will overload and explode!" Yelled Brett.

Erica panicked and raced her mind, until a certain thought crossed her mind. She looked down at her mega ring. A confident and grateful grin spreads across her face.

"Guys, lets mega evolve." Brett and Keith smiled at that idea.

Releasing their evolved kanto starters, the trio activated the rings.

"Mega evolve!" Yelled all three of them.

Bright lights surrounded all the powerful pokemon. Tyco had two turrets appear on his wrists, and a giant one appeared on his back. Charizard turned black as he got a lot blue highlights here and there, and his wings became more rigid. Venus grew larger, her leave turned into small trees, and the flower grew even larger.

"Water pulse!"

"Flamethrower!"

"Razor leaf!"

All three attacks launched. All three attacks impacted. And all three attacks destroyed the lock, leaving a massive smoke cloud. The cloud later cleared, and the three were laying on their backs.

"Sugoi." That was all that left Erica.

"Thank goodness." Keith was very relieved.

"Glad that's over." Brett's signature grin returned.

"What a disaster." Two people, one with a red scarf-mask combo, the other with a blue one, came up to greet our heroes.

"Well it seems that you three had done a great job in saving us from Team Flare. We should heal up your pokemon." The one with a red scarf handed Erica max revives. After their deed of kindness, the two swiftly left.

"...Weren't those two, Sycamore's assistants?" Asked Keith.

After the event, Brett and Keith stayed Behind for a bit to help the workers get everything back into working order for the place. Erica decided to go ahead and see what else is around the desert. At the end of the trail that lead into Lumoise, she found a tall elder.

"The flower pokemon." Whispered the man.

"Huh?"

"The pokemon that can't die." He silently left the scene.

"That was weird." Muttered Erica. She turned to see her companions walking up to her. They shared faces of uneasiness.

"Whats wrong?" Asked Erica, very worried. Brett stepped up first.

"Erica, you know that Keith and I are from other regions right?" Erica nodded. Keith took his turn.

"We've been in situations like this before. Did you know that if we failed, Kalos would've been without power." Erica gasped at hearing that.

"And we have both dealt with similar situations, and prevailed. Before we split up, Keith and I talked about...well..."

"Go on." Urged Erica.

"...We discussed sending you home." Finished Keith.

Erica just felt drained of emotion. After everything, was this the end of it? This two meant so much to her. And was she about to say goodbye? Looking back at them, she had great hope that it wasn't over.

"And what did you decide on?" Asked Erica with desperate eyes.

Brett looked to the side and scratched the back of his head. "That would be your decision. After all, we only won because you defeated the leader."

"But that win was only caused by the fact that evolution was timed perfectly, luck." Said Keith, he too was looking off to the side.

Erica didn't know whether to feel praised, or insulted. In deep thought, she ran through her mind over and over again. She did win, but her victory was based on luck. Erica had dreamed of an adventure like this for the longest time, and now would she have to give it up? The same scene of her in the playground, being alone, struck her hard again. But this time she had a decision to be alone, or not.

"Please don't..."

"I don't want to say goodbye to this!" Bawled Erica. "I don't want this to be over with. I've had so much fun on this adventure, and I've learned so much about this world." She was thrusting her hands out and about with every point she was making.

"And even though you guys could be rude, and stupid, I love being on this adventure. And I love being with you two." Erica couldn't hold it anymore, and broke down after that.

Seconds of tensity passed over. For our group, it felt like hours...

But then, Erica could feel one hand on her head, and another on her shoulder. She looked up to see her friends' faces, riddled with sympathetic smiles.

"Alright then, we'll keep going on."

"We'll try our best to look after you."

Erica hugged both of them and started to cry again. But this time, she was bursting with happiness at all of this.

"You two can be really stupid sometimes. But thats the way you two need to be." She smiled, sharing this moment with her friends.

"Is it ok, if we stay like this for a while?" Asked Erica.

Brett and Keith responded by hugging her back. Moments like this made adventures worth going on. At least, it made Erica's adventure beautiful.

'Sniffle', I'm tearing up again. Who is the guy who wrote this stuff?...Oh wait, that would be me. Wait, is this being written down?...Anyways, thank you for reading this chapter. I hope you liked it. And just in case, sugoi in Japanese means amazing. In the next chapter, Erica and her friends return to Lumiose city.


	14. Chapter 14

Disclaimer: I don't own Pokémon. If I did, Xerneas wouldn't be so powerful.

"Speech"

'Thought'

In the last chapter, Erica and her friends fought off Team Flare from the Power Plant and restored power to Lumiose city. But I've said enough about the last chapter, this is the new one. And our heroes now continue their adventure as they round back to Lumoise city. And just as the power was being restored to the remainder of the city.

As Erica was walking in through the gates, she feel some one tapping on her shoulder. She looked behind her to see Brett.

"I wanna say I'm sorry about sending you in the wrong direction back there." Apologized Brett. Erica used his usual grin and punched his shoulder.

"Don't worry about it, we'll just have to be more careful next time." Answered the student. Her teacher reflected the smile and continued through the gate. Once on the other side, Erica was looking around at how amazing it looked from the northern end.

"So this is what it looks like from the other side." Commented Erica.

Suddenly, Shauna came running to our friends. "Hi guys, isn't it great that power is restored?" She took a few moments to look around. "So this is what it looks like from the other side."

"There must be an echo..." Muttered Brett.

"By the way, do you have any idea who it was that got the power back running?" Asked Shauna.

Brett and Keith were about to say that it was all three of them, but suddenly-

"It was these two nut heads, believe it or not." Answered Erica quickly.

"Wow really?" Asked Shauna, very surprised. The veterans also had questioned looks.

"Yep, they're real heroes. I'm just so lucky to have them as my teachers." Said Erica as she hung her arms around their heads.

Shauna just stood their looking at Brett and Keith silently (not like that!). However, Keith was pondering why Erica didn't take any credit. He was about to ask when Shauna butted in.

"There was something that I wanted to tell you, but it slipped my mind." Shauna placed one finger on her chin. Erica remained patient, she had known that Shauna was forgetful sometimes.

"Oh, come on! Their about to light up Prism Tower!" Squealed Shauna as she pointed to the tower in the middle of the city.

Our heroes tracked their way down to the massive tower. But on their way there, Keith pulled Erica over to the side for a bit.

"Is something wrong?"

"I'm just curious as to why you didn't admit to stopping the flare boss." Admitted Keith. His friend cupped her chin, she wasn't too sure why she had done it either. The best response she could come up with is that she didn't like the attention.

"I guess that I just don't like to be in the spotlight." She shrugged her shoulders with an unsure face.

Keith decided that that would be good response. So they continued to the center of the massive city, where Prism Tower was located. In front of the entrance, their was a blond boy in a jump suit with some technical backpack. And next to him, there was a short blond girl wearing a brown tank-top.

"C'mon Clemont, isn't it done yet?" Whined the little girl.

"Almost done. Just have to rewire the main circuits-" And suddenly, the circuits started to spout electricity. And Clemont's hands where right in the middle of it, essentially shocking him in a cartoony manner.

Clemont was launched backwards, and Bonnie ran over to help him up.

"Want me to help?" They both turned to Keith who was approaching the side of the tower.

"Well sure, but it is complicated." Noted Clemont as he pushed up his glasses.

"I can handle it." Keith pushed up his glasses in return. Erica couldn't help but chuckle, Keith had found his double in the world.

"Hi Bonnie." The little girl turned to Shauna.

"Hi Shaunie." Greeted Bonnie.

Erica and Brett shared dumbfounded faces at this whole ordeal. And it was then that Erica saw that Shauna had found her double. Shauna caught wind of her friends' confusion and started to explain.

"Oh right. These are my friends, Bonnie and Clemont." Said Shauna as she pointed to both of the blonds.

"So you're challengers for the gym?" Brett's eyes started to glow that erie glow.

But before he could run into the gym, he looked around very feverishly. There didn't seem to be a gym building in sight.

"Where, where is it!?" Bonnie smiled and pointed up.

Erica and Brett followed the direction and saw that the Prism Tower had the Pokemon League insignia on it. Both of them gawked at the sight.

"It's the biggest gym that the world has ever seen." Gasped Erica.

"And done." Everyone looked at Clemont and Keith.

"The future is now thanks to science!" Yelled Clemont proudly. He turned to his double and they both nodded.

Keith pressed a button that made each section of the gym light up in order from lowest to highest. And it was a sight to see.

"Wow, thats another great memory for the scrap book." Noted Shauna with dazzling eyes.

"And now I can resume my duties of waiting inside for the challengers." Stated Clemont as he walked back into the tower.

Erica walked forward to enter the gym. But Brett put his hand on her shoulder. "Whats up?"

"I hear that there is a famous boutique on Vernal Avenue." Said Brett nonchalantly.

It can go without saying that after that, Erica was gone from the area. Just like a roadrunner. Keith watched his friend run towards a random clothing store.

"Why am I not surprised?"

"Works every time." Smirked Brett. Keith turned to Brett with a question in mind.

"Was that payback for what happened in the last city?"

"Yup yup." Brett

Keith decided to go and find Erica before she got into trouble, Lumoise city was big after all.

The base floor of the gym seemed like a disco dance floor. Only there was an elevator in the middle. With nothing else to do, Brett walked into the elevator. On the next floor, it seemed more like a game show.

Bonnie stood on some kind of podium, and three trainers stood infront of three other elevators.

"Welcome to the gym challenge." Greeted Bonnie.

"Are you ready Brettie?" She asked eagerly. That name somehow got Brett out of his hot blooded nature.

'Brettie? What's wrong with my name?' Thought Brett despondently.

"Uh, you know that-"

"Alright lets begin!" Proclaimed Bonnie, sort of making Brett mad.

An image was then projected in front of Brett. The silhouette of a certain mouse pokemon. The image disappeared and numbers appeared on the doors. Bonnie grabbed a microphone that was hanging off of the podium.

"Ok, now was that 1. Pichu, 2. Dendenne, or 3. Pikachu?" Asked the blondie toddler.

'Ok now I get it. I choose the answer by battling the trainer of the number thats the same as the one I choose.' Brett carefully analyzed the area. 'The answer is obviously Pikachu, but...'

Though it took thirty minutes, Brett finally made it to the top. Inside, Clemont awaited with his little sister.

"I gotta say, I am surprised." Commented the blond gym leader.

"I've never seen someone get every question wrong." And it's true, Brett didn't get single question right until he came upon the right answer.

"I got them wrong on purpose, I just like to battle." Clemont and Bonnie fell on there butts.

Bonnie stood back up and ran to the side to act as an announcer. "Well anyways, let the battle between Brettie-"

"It's Brett!" Brett cut off Bonnie. She gave him a stink eye.

"Between Brett and Clemont, begin." Finished Bonnie.

Clemont threw out his first pokemon, Emolga. The flying electric squirrel flew around for a bit. Brett's first choice was Kyu.

"Emolga, start off with aerial ace." The squirrel flew in fast for an impact attack.

"Kyu use mystical fire." The delphox pulled a stick out of nowhere and drew a fire that launched towards the emolga.

The electric type took the attack but then rushed in for one more impact. "Use volt switch." Emolga coaxed itself in electricity and crashed into the Delphox. After hitting Kyu, it switched out with another of Clemont's pokemon.

"Now out comes Heliolisk." And electric lizard with black lines and neck frills popped out to take emolga's place.

"Doesn't matter, we'll still tear it down." The fire starter barked in agreement with her trainer.

"Heliolisk, use parabolic charge." The lizard rammed into Kyu with an electric impact.

"Kyu, counter with pyschic!" The psychic fox used the stick once again, and released a mental wave of destruction.

"Heliolisk, use rain dance." And suddenly it started raining inside. I know what you're thinking, yes it can happen. Don't question pokemon physics.

"Kyu, return." Brett retrieved his pokemon and sent out a different choice. "Go Athrun!" Brett sent out his twin sword pokemon, but it had evolved. Now it was two swords with red clothes that shared the same sheath. Now Athrun was (or were?) a Doublade.

"Use shadow claw." The twin swords positioned itself to double slice with a ghostly force. The impact took a bit a damage onto Heliolisk, but it still stood.

"Thats interesting, Heliolisk use dragon tail!" Heliolisk's tail started to glow purple.

"Put your sheath as a shield!" The ghost pokemon hide behind its sheath, but was still hit by the impact.

Athrun was sent back into its pokeball. Then Kyu popped out of her pokeball, surprised. Brett wasn't too surprised as he had dealt with this before.

"Crap! Kyu use light screen." The fire fox cast a magic wall that would lower the effect of projectile attacks.

"Maybe you're not as dumb as I thought, but your still vunerable. Heliolisk, use thunderbolt!"

"Counter with mystical fire." The fire stream and the electric bolt countered against each other. The two pokemon rammed into each other, creating an explosion overload.

It took a few seconds before the smoke cleared. Both pokemon stood still, before Heliolisk fell over. Clemont was shocked by this. "But how? My pokemon had more than enough health leftover."

"Yeah, ever heard of a move called future sight?" Clemont gawked.

"No way...but when-"

"Right before I called her back."

Clemont retrieved his pokemon and sent out his next eleltric type. The first generation pokemon that seems to baffle everyone with its weight, Magneton. "Then I guess that I'll choose you."

Brett returned his Delphox and sent out Laxer. "Magneton, use tri-attack!" All three of the drones lit up and released energy. It created a large explosion once it impacted against Laxer.

But when the smoke cleared, the giant pokemon was fine. Snorlax's ability thick fat reduces the effectiveness of two thirds of the attack.

"Thats some pokemon." Said Bonnie with a gawking face.

"Laxer, use power up punch." The heavy fist of snorlax came down upon the unfortunate Magneton, resulting in an instant K.O..

"Alright, lets see if I can pull off a reverse victory." Clemont sent out his first and last pokemon, Emolga.

"Start of with thunder wave." A stream of electricity surged through to Snorlax which lead to paralysis.

"Now aerial ace." The tiny squirrel impacted against the fat giant.

"My turn, heavy slam!" Snorlax jumped into the air and landed on the unfortunate pokemon. The attack resulted in a K.O. But they were lucky that he didn't go through the floor.

"Clemont lost? No way, you must've cheated!" Accused Bonnie. She ran over and started to punch Brett's leg.

"Oh don't worry Bonnie, I gave my best and I'm sure my pokemon did too." Sighed Clemont as he retrieved his sister with a mechanical arm from his backpack.

"Well, ok." Pouted Bonnie who was looking down at the floor.

"Anyways, here is the badge." Clemont handed the badge over to Brett.

"Yatta." Brett walked over to the elevating platform to see if it would take him back down, but it did no such thing. He tried to make it go down by stomping on it a few times.

"Uh, how do I get out of here?" Asked the challenger with a sheepish grin. Bonnie stepped forward with a mischievous grin plastered on her face.

"You can use the trap door." She pressed a button on her remote, and Brett then fell through the door.

"I thought I got rid of that." Noted Clemont.

Outside of the tower, Keith was walking towards the tower to see how Brett would be doing. But he didn't expect to see his friend lying face down on the concrete.

"Woah, what happened?" Panicked Keith as he helped his friend up.

"Nothing, just make sure you have a parachute ready when you challenge him." Answered Brett, whipping the dirt off his face.

Elsewhere, Erica had just exited the PR studio. And she was carrying five bags of clothes.

"Oh, I love shopping." Erica began walking towards the gym when she ran into Sycamore.

"Ah hello Erica." Greeted the professor.

"Hello professor. Is your research going well?"

"Little by little. I need you to come with me real quick, do you mind?" Erica considered that. She could go towards the tower where Brett and Keith could be causing trouble. But then it hit her that she might not want to be caught up in that.

"Ok I have some free time." She put up a cheerful smile.

The walked down the alleyways till they came to a crimson building labeled, 'Lysandre Cafe'. Once inside, they met up with Lysandre. Erica was reminded of the first time she met up with this man, and she wasn't without Brett or Keith this time.

"Hello Sycamore." Greeted Lysandre. Erica tried to remain calm in his prescence.

"Nice to meet with you again Lysandre." Greeted the professor he reached out and shook hands with Lysandre. The latter turned to Erica.

"I do not believe I caught your name last time." Said the man as he scratched his chin. The blond had to muster up enough courage to answer.

"M-my name is Erica Tamashii." Even though she tried to be brave, she still couldn't help but to stutter.

"So now that you have the power of mega evolution, what are you gonna use it for?" Asked Lysandre to Erica. She contemplated on that, before her answer clearly came up.

"Well to become a strong trainer." That was the most honest answer she could give.

"No I mean, are going to try to benefit world or horde it for your own purposes?" That caught the heroine off guard, she knew about there being cruel people in the world. But by no means was she a bad person.

"If I have too, I'll try to benefit the world at every turn. Even if it is without the power that I share with my pokemon." Erica's answer was completely pure and dedicated, but her face reflected seriousness.

"Thats good. I've come across many people and found that there are always two kinds of people. Those who give, and those who take. We need more people like you in this world, Erica." Praised Lysandre. His praise was making her nervous.

"Th-thank you." Lysandre handed her a rock that was shaped as a crown.

"This king's rock is for your troubles." He left in his usual silent demeanor. Erica watched him as he left.

"Lysandre can be very poetic sometimes. Did you know that he is of royal blood?" Asked Sycamore.

"Wha-really?"

Brett and Keith waited for Erica at the northern pokemon center, it seemed like a good place to spend the night. Starting to grow impatient, Keith pulled out a holo-caster and sent a message to Erica. Brett stood of to the side, almost as if he was trying to solve relativity.

"Something wrong?" Brett woke up from his little trance.

"I think its Lysandre." Muttered Brett.

"Huh?"

Thank you for reading this chapter, I hope you liked it. In the next chapter, our heroes will continue their adventure through the swamps of Route 14. And they approach the city of Laverre.


	15. Chapter 15

Disclaimer: Not in any way, do I own pokemon. If I did, then there would be a clear connection between Ditto and Mew.

"Speech"

'Thought'

_'Electronic Speech'_

The pokemon center wasn't the most comfortable place to sleep. But it was a good price, and right now, our heroes didn't really have the money to spend on a luxury hotel. Erica walked into the room with a bit of a pouty face.

"You know that there is a luxury hotel down the street, right?" Inquired Erica. Brett and Keith looked at her with the same face.

"That would be way to expensive, even with our funds." Retorted Brett. The blond didn't want to admit that he was right, but he was. She didn't have enough money to contribute for a third of the pay. Keith then butt in with his own suggestion.

"We could camp, that's always free." Erica slumped down onto the bed. Pushing up his gleaming glasses, the teacher grinned a victorious smile. Reverse Psychology was always fun to use.

Later in the night Erica was in deep thought about what she had discussed with Lysandre earlier. Even though her two companions were asleep, the blond felt guilty. It was as if she betrayed their trust by visiting with the orange haired man. She looked down at her mega ring and pondered on what she had said earlier. Fidgeting with it seemed to distract her from the guilt. Whispering words were exiting her mouth.

"I need to use this power to aid the world." Her thoughts drifted back towards Team Flare. A pair of serious eyes replaced her innocent ones. That was were she needed use her power. The bonds that she shared with her friends, and her pokemon was strong.

The next day, Erica ran over to challenge Clemont at Prism tower. Unlike her companion, Erica was semi-successful in answering the questions. When she reached the top, the glasses wearing gym leader was messing around with his backpack. He stopped the moment that he noticed her.

"You were with those two from earlier right?" Asked Clemont as he put his mechanical backpack on.

"That is right." Answered the challenger.

"I'm also here to challenge you." She held out a pokeball as a signal. Clemont responded by holding out one of his round capture devices.

"It'll have to be a one on one, Bonnie is playing with the other two." As Clemont admitted to that, his face had a sweatdrop.

"That works just fine with me."

The first pocket monster of the challenger was the cute Laxus (I know that Laxus isn't actually cute, just go with it). The first pocket monster of the opposing side was Heliolisk. This match was already off to an interesting start, both trainers chose pokemon that couldn't use any advantage over the other.

"Thunderbolt!" Both trainers gave out the exact same command. And the pokemon launched bolts of electricity that circled the field. Laxus took more damage as he had lower defense.

"Laxus, use electro ball." The pink sheep (pff, Laxus and pink sheep) charged a ball of electricity and launched it at Heliolisk. The attack did some damage, but not too much. Erica noticed that this wasn't getting anywhere. And her pokemon reflected it as well, Laxus began stomping the ground like an upset Charmeleon.

Suddenly a light started to shine off of Laxus. Both trainers, and even Heliolisk, were surprised.

"He's evolving." Gasped Erica. The new pokemon that took his place was tall, yellow, and had no wool. Laxus had evolved into an Ampharos. Erica's eyes met with her partner's and the two shared a nod.

"Heliolisk, use your quick attack." The lizard ran up to high speeds and impacted several times against Laxus.

"Laxus, use power gem." Electricity coursed out of Erica's partner and launched at the electric dinosaur.

"Counter with your grass knot." Heliolisk slammed his tail into the ground, inexplicably causing grass to spout from the ground and tie around Laxus's feet. Somehow the Ampharos was knocked down by the grass knot.

Both trainers knew that at this point, both of their pokemon had very little hp left to spare. Clemont took the advantage of the type of his Heliolisk to win.

"Use bulldoze!" The black and yellow lizard jumped up and slammed into the floor.

Erica panicked as she looked through her thoughts to come up with some kind of solution to victory. Suddenly, she had a theory that was very much worth trying.

"Use electro ball on yourself!" Her pokemon was caught off guard at that suggestion. But he had no other ideas, and agreed to the idea. Electricity coursed around his body and Laxus started to float off of the ground, dodging the attack.

Clemont and Heliolisk were both caught off guard. The challenger smirked at what she and her pokemon had just accomplished. Laxus then flew down and slammed Heliolisk, defeating him. The gym leader walked over to his challenger and handed her the badge. She bowed in thanks as the field started to fix itself (like in origins).

As Erica was leaving the gym, she got a message from Keith on the holocaster.

_'Brett and I are waiting at the route 14 gate, come on whenever you are ready.' _The message ended. Erica contemplated on that route. She knew that the route was just a massive swamp.

Looking down at her shoes, she realized that by no means was she ready for an expedition across a swamp. Our blond protagonist then remembered a nearby shop, and her answer lied there.

After stopping by the nearby shop. Erica made her way to the route gate, where her friends were waiting. Said friends were in conversation about something.

"Hey guys." She caught up with them and Keith decided to drop the conversation. He had decided that it could wait.

"Where were you?" Asked Keith.

"I was getting ready for the next route."

"Ok then, lets continue to the next city." Proclaimed Keith, he turned over to his friend who nodded in response.

"The next city is-"

"Laverre city. In between it and here there is a marsh, which I am ready for." The student took a proud stance and waited to see if either of her friends could figure out what changes she had made.

Brett and Keith took a moment to think it through. Nothing seemed any different about her. Her hair was a little longer. Keith's analysis lead him to the ground.

"Hey are those-"

"Your chest is smaller." Butt in Brett.

Erica blushed rather furiously. Rivaling that of a solar flare. She crossed her hands over her shirt. Keith's face harbored surprise. He backed away, knowing full well the wrath of a teenage girl if you insulted her appearance.

"BAKA!" She kicked him in the stomach and rammed him into a nearby wall.

"...You're wearing boots now?" Asked Keith.

"Thats right." Erica's mood changed very quickly. From furious to happy. I will never understand how that works for humans.

After pulling Brett back up to his feet, and making sure that he could still count to ten, they passed through the gate and ran into Erica's friends.

"Hi guys." Greeted Erica casually.

"Hi Erica. Me and Trevor were talking about the haunted house." Explained Tierno.

Brett and Keith perked up at hearing the words 'haunted' and 'house' together in the same sentence, but who wouldn't am I right? Shauna brought them out of their thoughts.

"Yeah, it's near the end of the route."

"Lets go." Suggested Trevor as they blasted off in that direction. Trevor soon treaded in the same direction.

She sighed in a slow manner. "Everyone is so passionate about something. What am I passionate about?" Whispered the girl in a down mood. Erica saw this and wanted to help out, but it seems that her teacher would do it for her.

"Adventuring, right?" Asked Brett. Shauna was caught off guard by that.

"Uh, maybe." She looked around for a bit before her face morphed into a very confident smile. "Yeah!" Shauna ran off in the same direction as the others.

Erica turned around Brett and mouthed 'thank you'. She was glad that her teacher could spare their teachings to others.

So they continued down through the marshy plains. Battling against a lot of hexes, rangers, and the sort. Along the way, Brett battled against a girl that had a Floette as her partner. The pokemon that Brett sent out was the evolved form of his Amaura. A larger dinosaur with sails and ice jewels, Aurorus.

"Use dazzling gleam." The tiny fairy had bright light shining out of its eyes.

"Counter with your ice beam." The dinosaur's sails suddenly had light shining through them as a the cold energy radiated out of the sails and into Floette. The tiny little fairy didn't stand much of a chance. Erica became curious of when the pokemon evolved.

"When did Artic evolve?" Brett gave her his attention after he returned his pokemon.

"Early this morning, apparently Amaura evolves in the presence of moonlight." Answered Brett in an analytical way, and that's Keith's job.

"Oh, I see." Said Erica. She was about to continue walking when-

"Stop!" Yelled Brett and Keith in unison. The response of their friend was to stop and be very surprised.

"What!?" Asked the heroine.

"Marshes can be very dangerous, if you''re not careful. You could wind up 7 feet underwater." Answered Keith. Erica sighed in response, she didn't really think that these marshes could be that deep.

"Don't worry, I'm wearing boots." Said Erica as she continued onward.

Only to sink in completely, in about a second. Brett and Keith frantically ran over and pulled her out quickly. It took about 20 seconds to pull her out.

"Its good that your equipment is water proof." Noted Keith. But right now, Erica could care less about that.

"I don't care about that! My clothes are ruined!" Yelled the blond teenager.

The other two continued forward neither were too concerned considering that it was her fault.

"Well lets keep going then. You can get it dry cleaned at the next city." Offered Brett.

Erica followed behind them very slowly and unwillingly. All the way she was whining with tears in her eyes about her ruined outfit.

Just when they were about to enter the city Erica noticed Shauna in front of a small house. She got the attention of her two friends. "Hey guys, come on. The house is over there."

They walked into the house and found an old man. Now I now you want to hear something frightful. But I can't tell you because my version of the story is so scary that it'll probably make you stay up in the middle of the night, and that's no fun.

By the end of the story, the old man turned the light on. Tierno was hiding under a pillow, Trevor was behind the couch, and the two girls were hugging each other.

"Well how was the story?"

"That was scary!" Yelled Erica, Shauna, Tierno, and Trevor all together.

The remaining two were just sleeping. Erica was very surprised that anyone could sleep through something like that.

The two veterans ended up tipping him before the three left for the city. Upon entry Erica dashed into the boutique for some clothes to wear. Brett and Keith walked to the pokemon center. They decided not to bother with Erica's clothing problems.

Erica sooned rejoined the two wearing a completely different outfit. Lime green exotic top, beige cycling cap, and brown cross-laced shorts.

"How do I look?" She didn't get an answer as Brett and Keith were busy with their pokedexes.

'Its no wonder they're both single.'

After their pokemon were all healed up. Keith left for the gym challenge. Erica was curious as to why only he left and Brett didn't follow.

"Why aren't you going?"

"I lost in Rock Paper Scissors."

Upon entering the gym, Keith was met with a small room that had 3 glowing panels on the floor. Scientific curiosity forced him step on one of them. He was teleported to another room that looked like a bathroom.

But nobody was in there, mind you. Keith found that this room had two more pads. He stepped on another warp pad that led him to a piano room.

"I see, its like a doll house." Noted Keith with his signature glasses push up.

Back at the pokemon center. Erica was reading a pop culture magazine while she was waiting for her outfit to be dry cleaned. Brett was sleeping on the couch when mail man came by.

"Excuse me, but could you point me to somebody named Brett?" Asked the man in blue.

"Thats me." Said Brett, somehow able to instantly wake up. The mailman handed Brett a letter.

"Here you go sir, have a nice day." Brett thanked the man and turned to Erica.

"Ever wonder how they always know where you are?"

"No." But the thought did start to creep her out a little.

What Brett got was an envelope (sorry, no pokemon). Once opening it, Erica's eyes nearly popped out of their sockets. The contents were pictures of a girl.

She was a brunette with blue eyes. It's also worth noting that her hair was in buns. The pictures consisted of one of her in a swimsuit, one of her walking down a road, and even of her in a kimono with a grass snake pokemon.

"Uh Brett?" Erica was really surprised at this, and she just had to know how this came about.

"Yeah?"

"You don't subscribe to some company do you?" Asked Erica a little shockingly.

"No. She only sends me pictures every now and then." Answered the black haired boy calmly.

'She? So he knows this girl?' Thought the blond girl.

Erica was about to ask more about this girl. But Shauna and Trevor burst straight in. Trevor looked like he just hopped from the moon and back. That was the thing that really caught Erica's attention.

"Erica, come on! We need to go to the pokeball factory!" Squealed the orange afro'd boy. She had never seen her friend like this before, and it left a lot to be said.

They ended following Trevor as he ran to this factory. And meanwhile, Keith was still challenging the gym.

Once he finally completed the puzzle, Keith entered the last room. Which looked like a whole big canvas. There were different colors of paint everywhere. In the center was a girl that had black hair, which complemented her kimono that had very long sleeves.

"Greetings fair trainer. My name is Valerie." Said the gym leader as she bowed. Keith repeated the action. He felt it complementary for the challenge.

"And my name is Keith Chiyoku." He sent out his first choice, his fairy. But it had now evolved.

"Alright Florges go!" A pixie that looked like it had a merged with a flower emerged.

"I see. Now come on out, Mr. Mime." Valerie sent out the pokemon that always pretends to be in a box appeared. The challenger was a little surprised, he always thought that Mr. Mime was a psychic type.

He pulled out his pokedex as it listed what typing this pokmeon truly had. The gears started to click in his head as it read that Mr. Mime was confirmed to be psychic and fairy type. The brown haired boy put his pokedex away and prepared for the match.

"Light screen." Both of them commanded the same thing at the same time. With both screens of defense up, the battle would last longer.

"Mr. Mime, use psybeam." The mime launched a beam from its finger.

"Counter with dazzling gleam." Florges shot a beam from its eyes that impacted with the incoming beam.

For a couple of seconds, the room was blinding. When Valerie adjusted her sight to see again, she found her pokemon knocked out. The girl with dazzling eyes couldn't help but be surprised at how quickly that went down.

She looked up and found that Keith switched out his pokemon with a doublade.

"But how could you? We couldn't see." Questioned Valerie.

"I used doublade's sheath whilst the blades assaulted Mr. Mime."

"And the light screen?" The swords held up their clothes like fists. Keith chuckled at his partner's suggestion.

"Brick break." Answered Keith for his pokemon. Valerie chose to smile in return.

Valerie retrieved her pokemon and sent out the next, Mawile. The kimono pokemon that had a giant mouth on the back of its head.

"Mawile?" Questioned Keith at the sight of this rare pocket monster.

"An interesting pokemon, yes?" Stated Valerie. Seeing as how she was using Mr. Mime before, Keith had to infer that Mawile was confirmed to be a fairy type.

"Truly, but I don't think I've ever seen one in battle before."

"Mawile, use crunch."

"Attack with your brick break."

The twin sword pokemon collided with the jaw pokemon. Mawile crunched down with a great force. And the twin sword pokemon used its clothes to impacted against the pokemon in the form of a brick breaker.

"Now, the conflict will end. Mawile, use crunch again." The Steel-Fiary type pressurized with even more force which resulted in the doublade fainting.

Keith did the math as he retrieved his pokemon. With a better plan he sent out his next choice, his Chesnaught.

"I can tell that you and that pokemon are very closely bonded." Noted the gym leader. This left Keith a little curious as to how she could come to that conclusion.

"Thank you. Chesnaught, use power-up punch." The giant, spiked fist impacted against the mawile.

The force sent mawile swirling against the wall. It tried to stand up, but the force was too much. Valerie retrieved it, and pulled out her final pokeball.

"I'm counting on you, Sylveon." She sent out a little pink and white dog-like pokemon that was covered in ribbons.

'Eon?' Keith tried to compile the information, he only knew a few pokemon that had that ending syllable. He also knew that all of those other pokemon only evolved from an Eevee.

"Chesnaught, use wine whip." The armor pokemon launched several whips towards its opponent.

"Sylveon, counter with a dazzling gleam." A blinding light flashed the juggernaut. Sylveon took the opportunity climbed onto Chesnaught's back.

"Now ice beam." Sylveon shot a beam of cold energy onto Chesnaught's back.

Keith retrieved his pokemon and decided to continue with his ace-in-the-hole.

"Lets finish this Charizard." He sent out the pseudo dragon.

"Sylveon use baby doll eyes." The fairy's eyes grew giant and teary as it lowered the attack of the fire type.

"Doesn't matter. Charizard, use steel claw." The flying type's claws of iron impacted against the fairy.

"And finish with steel wing." Charizard flew down and rammed into sylveon with wings of iron.

Valerie retrieved her pokemon and conceded defeat.

"Very well, you win. Here is your badge." She handed over the fairy badge to Keith.

"Thank you, that was a great match." Keith turned around to leave. He didn't want to hurt Valerie's feelings, but that place was just a little creepy..

Whilst Keith left the gym, Erica and Brett were approaching the pokeball factory. And I'd continue writing, but this chapter is getting way too long.

Thanks for reading this chapter, I hope you liked it. If you did, you can leave a guest review to let me know how you felt about it. And fyi, Baka=Idiot in Japanese. In the next chapter, Erica and Brett will go into the Pokeball Factory and find that it isn't exactly as it should be.


	16. Chapter 16

Disclaimer: I don't own pokemon. If I did, Xerneas wouldn't have two forms. One and done.

"Speech"

'Thought'

In the last chapter, Keith challenged and defeated the gym leader of Laverre city. Whilst he did that, Brett and Erica approached the pokeball factory. On their way to the factory, Erica couldn't stop thinking about that girl from before. By no means did she have a crush on her friend, she was just curious.

"Brett, I'm a little curious about that girl from the pictures." Admitted Erica. He looked back at her with a face of mild surprise.

"Oh? Are you now?" She didn't want to admit it, but Erica felt like Brett was being condescending towards her right now.

"Yeah. Are you two close or something?" At this point, Erica felt like she was intruding. Who was she to intrude upon her friend's personal life like this? But then again, who couldn't resist a little gossip at this point?

"Well yeah, her name is Kate." Answered Brett without hesitation. The blond was a little surprised at how easily he opened up. She was about to ask why, but he continued to explain himself.

"We met on my last adventure, right now she is training to become stronger." Brett continued walking and looked up, probably thinking about that girl. His friend started to feel a little guilty for prying into his personal life like this.

"I'm sorry." Muttered Erica. Now it was Brett's turn to be surprised.

"For what?"

"For prying into your personal life like this." She tried to spurt that last sentence out pretty quickly, her head hung in shame.

After hearing that answer, Brett stopped. Erica continued walking and bumped into him. She was about to look up, but suddenly her head was pushed back down. Brett was patting her head like he usually does when teaching her a lesson. For some reason, this always comforted Erica.

"I don't mind talking about this in the least, especially to you." Brett's response surprised Erica. It was at this point that he gave her a different smile from his usual laid back grin. The blondie could only give a happy smile at her friend's kindness.

They continued their trek towards the factory. Erica began to realize that her relationship with Brett felt more like a relationship that she would have to an older brother. She might not be able to view him as her teacher anymore, but it could feel better.

As they walked up the stairs, Erica and Brett noticed Shauna and Trevor to the side. They seemed to be arguing about something. Erica face displayed concern for two reasons: Trevor was no longer upbeat, and Shauna wasn't upbeat.

"Don't worry, he will let us in this time." Exclaimed Shauna, she turned around and ran up the staircase. It didn't take long before Trevor chased after her to stop her.

"Wait Shauna, I don't think that'll work." Begged Trevor.

Brett was curious about the situation, but he was even more curious about how somebody could be so persistent. He turned to Erica to get an answer, she picked up on his suspicion.

"I haven't know her for that long, but Shauna has always just been persistent." She shrugged her shoulders. The memory of their meeting gave Erica a grateful smile.

The two trainers soon heard the sound of footsteps moving quickly. They looked up to see that Shauna and Trevor were running down the stairs, and being chased by a Team Flare grunt. Erica then grew upset that this guy was assaulting her friends. Brett was about to run up to challenge the grunt, but Erica put her hand to stop him.

The veteran turned to his friend and was met with a confident nod that he somehow understood. Right as Shauna and Trevor passed them, Erica stuck her foot out. The Team Flare grunt tripped and fell down the flight of stairs. Trevor and Shauna quickly came over to thank their friend.

"Thanks Erica."

"That was pretty smart of you."

"Thanks guys."

Brett looked down at the defeated Flare grunt and began to think. He turned his head towards the factory and the gears began to turn in his head. "Alright you two go somewhere else, we will handle this." Commanded Brett. Shauna and Trevor caught the feeling of his serious aura and decided to follow through with his command.

Erica looked back at her friends that were now leaving. She was worried that Team Flare had the entire town hostage.

"Was that a good idea? What if they have the town hostage?" Asked Erica to her friend. The veteran trainer cupped his chin to think about that possibility. He ended up just shaking his head.

"Don't worry about it. If they have Laverre hostage, Keith will be able to teach them a lesson." That answer really did help sooth Erica's worry. She then felt really confident as they had the possibility of a well based attack.

Once they entered the factory, Erica instantly spotted a grunt form Team Flare. Erica pulled Brett with her to take cover from being noticed. The guard somehow got a glimpse of Erica's long hair as she dashed behind a box.

"Come out, I know you're there!" Demanded the guard. Erica cursed her bad luck. Brett placed his hand on her head and gave a reassuring nod.

They both walked back out to face their opponent. They didn't expect that the female grunt would be surprised that they were two teenagers.

"That idiot can't even do guard duty? Sorry folks, but we're not giving tours right now." She was obviously bad at trying to divert their attention. Our hot blooded veteran held his fist out.

"I'm not buying that crap. Lets get it on!" Yelled Brett. Erica out her hand on his shoulder to get his attention. Brett didn't like being distracted from a battle, but he gave in as it could've been important.

"Alright, I'll go ahead and try to stop the rest of team flare." Her friend wasn't fond of the idea of letting her go ahead because of last time. But before he could stop her, she ran ahead.

The guard was about to tackle her to stop her, but Brett tackled the grunt first. Erica ran fast to find the leader and into her first impediment. The walkways were blocked with fences. A conveyer belt that stretched across the factory seemed like the only way to get about at the moment.

"Well, here goes nothing." Erica jumped on the conveyer belt and allowed the momentum to take her on its course.

"Hey this is actually kind of fun."

She got a little distracted and didn't notice where she was going. Erica wound up right back up to Brett, who was being pinned down by some Team Flare grunts. She was both dumbfounded, and worried.

"Don't worry Brett, I'll help you out." Proclaimed Erica as she ran forward to aid her friend. But like some anime fighting character, Brett burst out from underneath the guards.

"No! You go ahead and take care of the rest of these guys!" Proclaimed Brett as he pointed to her. She nodded reluctantly, a little scared of his inhuman strength.

Erica ran back the way that she went the first time. During her second track she noticed a staircase. The blondie quickly ran up the stairs. Up at the top she found a control board. With curiosity in mind, she pressed the big red button. The conveyer belts started to run in the opposite direction.

"Alright, now we're talking." Erica looked around and found another staircase. Traversing down it she then jumped on conveyer belt nearby. The heroine made use of this new direction change to get closer to the leader. Along the way she was forced to fight against several flare grunts that weren't dealing with Brett.

As she was about to get off the last conveyer belt, the rim of her shirt got caught on it. Erica pulled hard and frantically to get it back.

"Come on, I paid 5,600 poke for this." She pulled even harder till the sound of fabric ripping stopped her.

The bottom half of the shirt ripped off into the conveyer belt.

Embarrassed, the blonde covered her exposed belly. She knew that she had to save the factory workers and the director, but first she had to find some cover. Her best bet was to run into the upper room. In the room their were the leaders of the raid and the factory director.

"Come on old man, hand over the pokeballs. I don't see what the trouble would be." Said one of the members who was a female admin.

"No, I refuse to cooperate with criminals." The old man had no intention to cooperate with the raiders. His vision drifted to where he could see Erica.

"Oh a trainer! Please stop these horrible people!" Begged the old man. The admin turned around to see Erica had penetrated their defenses.

"Well, well. What do we have here? A belly dancer knock-off?" Taunted the admin. Erica would've started off with more of a Brett-like comment, but her feminine side demand her to insult instead.

"At least this is more hot than that trashy outfit you're wearing." Retorted the angry thirteen year old girl. Oh no she didn't.

And now it was on.

Keith new that Brett always had his own way of going here and there without any warning, but he expected something from Erica at least. Without any word from either of his friends he decided to just wander about. It didn't take long before he came upon an out cold TF grunt. Looking up the staircase Keith could notice noticed the pokeball factory.

"Based on experience, Team Flare is up there. And more than likely, so are Brett and Erica." Said Keith to no one in particular. He also knew from experience that they could be after some kind of rare pokeball.

'Could they be after some powerful pokemon?' Keith didn't like that thought, not in the slightest.

Inside the director's office, Erica had finished of the admin. She wanted to mock the admin, but she had to brace herself for the next attack. By looks alone Erica guessed that the other two were scientists just like Aliana. But their visors looked different from each other.

"Lets make this one a two on one battle." Said the one with green hair.

"That way our chances of defeat are slim." Said the one with purple hair.

Our blond protagonist tried to put confident thoughts into her head to help. But she couldn't knock out the fact that she only beat Aliana because of lucky timing.

"Not so fast!" Erica turned around to see Brett running into the room.

"I'm not gonna let you attack my friend just like that! This is gonna be a fair match!" He held out his pokeball and turned to Erica.

"I'm not gonna leave you alone this time." Erica felt really glad that her friend had her back like that. With confidence, she readied herself for the battle. Erica sent out Phoenix for battle. Brett launched his pokeball to send out Athrun.

The green haired one sent out the panther with yellow spots, Liepard. And the purple haired one sent out the fierce electric hound, Manetric.

"Oh crap." Muttered Erica. For those who don't know electric beats flying and dark beats ghost. She shook her head to remind herself that she was with her teacher this time.

"Don't worry, we can beat them anyways." Reassured Brett, not scared of the current situation.

"Ok, now lets start off with taunt." The Liepard taunted Athrun by sort of laughing in his face..

"Damn, just when I was about go with Swords Dance." Brett and his pokemon reflected the same kind of face, an angry one.

"Now, use Shockwave." Manetric launched a wave of electricity towards Phoenix. The shockwave penetrated Phoenix and she fell down onto the ground. That attack hurt very much.

"Oh no." Cried Erica.

"And now crunch." The panther pokemon ran to bite down on the hilt of Athrun.

"Give em' a thunder fang." The electric hound jumped up and bit down on Phoenix's wing. The Talonflame fought hard against the pain till she fainted. Erica retrieved her and sent out Psyedge.

'I am ready to fight Erica-sama.'

"Good then use power-up-punch." Psyedge punched Manetric in the muzzle.

"Use thunder." Manetric released a massive surge of electricity. But instead of hitting the pokemon in front of it, the electric attack ran towards Athrun.

"How?" The purple hair scientist then noticed a crucial fact about the Doublade. Its a ghost-steel type.

"A lightning rod?"

"Erica now!" Yelled Brett.

"Right, power-up-punch!" Psyedge punched Liepard in the stomach and knocked it out.

"What?" The green haired scientist was somehow caught off guard.

"Yosh, now Athrun use metal claw!" The twin swords pokemon spun around rapidly till it impacted against Manetric. The attack somehow knocked out the electric hound. Both scientists were caught off guard.

"But how could you pull that off?" Brett felt more than happy to explain how.

"The electricity absorbed by the earlier attack increased Athrun's power." Explained Brett. Both scientists shared an intrigued face, they almost seemed to be toying around like this match didn't really matter that much.

Erica caught onto this fact really quickly, she also caught onto the fact that the scientist's visors were beeping and flashing. The blond heroine was about to ask them about their visors, but she didn't get the chance.

The Scientists quickly retrieved their pokemon and threw a flash bang. When her vision cleared, Erica could see that the Team Flare leaders had escaped. The director quickly scrambled over to his rescuers.

"Oh thank you so very much! Those miscreants were trying to steal the precious pokeballs." Explained the president.

"No problem sir." Brett waved it off as not too much to worry about.

"How can I ever repay you? Oh I know!" He ran over to his desk and pulled out two sacks. He handed them to both Erica and Brett.

Erica opened the bag to find a gold nugget and a purple pokeball. She turned to the director, surprised about the gold nugget that she received. Brett's face was also a little perplexed, but he was more concerned about the pokeball.

"Are you sure about this?"

"Oh yes. You have definitely deserved them." He nodded and bowed in thanks. Erica bowed in thanks, she and Brett soon left the factory.

As they were leaving, Brett handed his purple pokeball to Erica. She looked back at him, perplexed about her gift. He answered that with his own look of a laid back smile.

"I want you to hold onto that pokeball, you'll be able to find better use for it than I will." Erica gave a grateful look at his answer. Inside, Erica felt like she had lost a teacher. In return she felt like she gained an older brother.

As he ascended the staircase, Keith was reunited with his friends. He was initially worried about Team Flare, but seeing his two companions reassured him that they were safe and had won.

"So you had no difficulties against them?" Erica sighed.

"I wouldn't exactly say that it was easy either." Answered the blond heroine. All of a sudden, Erica's holocaster started to beep. She reached down to pick it out of her pocket and found that it was time for her clothes to be finished.

After Erica had left Brett and Keith were left to discuss what had happened in the factory.

"Did they go after a master ball?" Asked the glasses wearing trainer.

"They tried, but we ended up stopping them." Answered the hot blooded trainer. His friend thought about the master ball for a moment. If Team Flare were intending to steal one, then they would need it to capture a powerful pokemon.

'There must be a legendary that they are after.'

After Erica had gotten her pokemon healed and her outfit dry cleaned, she had decided to go challenge the Laverre city gym. The gym was both creepy and challenging. Her navigation took some time, she wasn't as smart as Keith was.

The challenger soon found her way into the canvas room. When she teleported there, Valerie was sitting down on a stool and painting something. Erica curiously walked over to find out what it was. It was a picture wide grassy plains.

"That's beautiful." Complemented Erica.

"Why thank you. I assume that you're here to challenge me? If so, the battle will be three on three." Erica nodded and walked back to the other side of the room.

"I, Erica Tamashii, challenge you!" She threw out Dragulong as her first pokemon. Valerie's face twitched a little at the sight of a Skrelp, she released her Mr. Mime.

"Use light screen." The mime pokemon waved its hands around to create a barrier in front of itself. Erica took a little time to remember that light screen couldn't stop physical attacks.

"Use aqua tail." The rotten kelp pokemon flipped and flopped till it hit hard on Mr. Mime's head. The fairy pokemon and its trainer backed away as Dragulong returned to his trainer. Erica easily picked up on this and became curious.

"Quickly, use psybeam!" The creepy pokemon pointed its beam to hit the opponent hard. Erica anticipated that there was a difference between Dragulong's level and the other pokemon, but not one this big.

"Use poison tail!" Valerie twitched again and quickly fumbled up an attack.

"Use psybeam!" The fairy type launched the attack at Dragulong again, but this time he kept going until he impacted against Mr. Mime. Both pokemon fainted, Dragulong scored a critical hit. Erica didn't care that Dragulong didn't win, she was just proud of him for trying.

Erica reached into her bag and sent out her next pokemon, Jirai. The fairy girl sent out her Mawile to fight back against the ninja.

"Mawile use vice grip." The deceiving pokemon jumped up and bit her massive jaw onto Jirai's torso.

"Jirai, use your lick attack." Jirai's tongue scarf slowly coursed over to top of Mawile, causing her to let go.

"Mawile, use your brick break attack!" Mawile lifted up her giant jaw and slammed it onto Jirai. The attack did a lot of damage because of Jirai being a dark type. Erica knew that she had to come up with something quick if she was going to defeat the fairy type.

"Jirai use water pulse." With his hands the ninja frog created several symbols and launched rings of water towards Mawile. The damage didn't defeat it, but instead left the fairy type in a confused state. After a few dizzy steps. Mawile punched itself in the face, knocking itself out.

Valerie didn't want to admit it, but she was surprised at this trainer's luck and intuition. Her last pokemon, Sylveon, might turn this around though. The challenger knew that her pokemon was tired and retrieved him so he could take a break. In Jirai's place came Phoenix.

"Phoenix, use aerial ace." The bird of fire dove down and struck hard on its opponent.

"Counter with your draining kiss." Sylveon sneaked a quick peck on the bird's beak, draining energy to heal itself.

"Crap, singe it with flamethrower."

"Not so fast, attack with moonblast!" The fairy eeveelution launched a shining ball into the flames that penetrated straight through them, and impacted the Talonflame.

Phoenix started to fall and Erica panicked for a strategy to win. And then she suddenly got a gut feeling of what to do.

"Use acrobatics!" Phoenix rolled down onto the ground and used the momentum to jump back up and impact hard against Sylveon, knocking it out. Valerie became very surprised at that attack, but also intrigued at the same time. She returned her pokemon and walked over to hand Erica the badge.

"Thank you for the match." Erica bowed in thanks to continue her tradition.

"I can see that you have great bonds with your pokemon and others." Explained Valerie.

"Oh, well thank you."

As Erica left the gym, she couldn't help but feel as if that last move was something that Brett would've pulled off. She smiled and was glad that she could learn from somebody and also get to have such a good relationship with them.

Thanks for reading this chapter. I hoped you liked it. If you have any comments on this, you can leave a guest review for it. In the next chapter, our heroes will continue their adventure and learn about two legends that reside within Kalos.


	17. Chapter 17

Disclaimer: I don't own pokemon. Sorry, no witty jokes this time.

"Speech"

'Thought'

After Erica had conquered the fairy gym, she went to the local hotel to check in for the night. She found that her two companions went off to train some more. Some part of her really wanted to join them, but she found herself to be very tired. Erica fell to sleep easily.

When Erica woke up the next morning she found that both of her companions found their way back to the room. Keith somehow slept perfectly in the middle of his bed. Brett was sprawled out across the top of his.

Erica decided to get out of the bed and get a crepe from a local stand. Whilst eating her cinnamon crepe on a bench, Erica was caught up in the thoughts of why Team Flare would have any intent to try to rob a factory of pokeballs.

'The only use for a pokeball would be to capture a pokemon.' Keith's voice was ringing in her head.

'If somebody evil would try to take that many pokeball's they must be after something powerful.' Brett's voice was there too.

The blond had to be thankful that she learned from her friends like that, but she still had so many questions about this team that remained unanswered. What would they need power from the power plant for? Why were they in that crystal cave? And what on earth was with those scientists, their attitudes were just so strange.

"Oh all this thinking is starting to give me a headache." Groaned Erica. She reached for one and realized that she had left it back in the hotel room.

"Here you go." She turned around to see Brett handing her the medicine. Erica gladly took it as Brett joined her on the bench.

"So what are you thinking about?" Asked the black haired veteran. Erica wanted to discuss it with him, but she also didn't want to max out his hot blooded temper this early.

"Oh nothing really." Brett was skeptic to that answer.

"Must be a lot of nothing to hurt that much." In all honesty Erica's defense just wasn't that good if Brett could pick up on its fault.

Erica quickly thought for an excuse that she could use. She was about to give up and tell Brett, but Keith suddenly came into the scene. He had checked them out of the hotel after he left and handed Erica the rest of her things.

While Brett and Keith took some time to find some food to eat, Erica decided to pass the time by grooming each of her pokemon. She found it easiest to groom Phoenix, seeing as how they had grown up together.

"Hey Phoenix, do you think that I've changed any over the past few weeks?" Her feathered friend showed a questioned look (as best as a bird could). The trainer could tell that her pokemon didn't really understand, so she put the brush down to explain.

"You know, have I grown out or expressed myself any?" She put her arms up and down to exaggerate her words. Her feathered friend just started to look around at random points.

The trainer sighed in defeat, she felt like she was talking to a wall. Phoenix poked her head and started to look around again. This time, Erica curiously followed her friend's view of vision. It was then that the trainer noticed something important about her pokemon's line of view.

Erica wasn't next to her house, she wasn't anywhere near home. In a random place that was so very different from the place that she had grown up in. Proof of the fact that heroine had opened up to the rest of the world. Phoenix then nuzzled up to her trainer, and Erica happily petted her friend in return.

After a little while of waiting, Brett and Keith returned to Erica. After meeting back up the three ventured into the next route which had fallen leaves everywhere. Just for the information of the audience, Keith wasn't too fond of the environment.

"Is something wrong Keith?" Asked Erica.

"I'm ok, I just don't like the concept of dead leaves everywhere." Explained Keith with a twitching smile.

"And that's why he doesn't set foot in Ecruteak city." Laughed Brett.

They continued along the route and encountered many rangers along the way. The rangers seemed to be popping out of patches of leaves. As they continued their trekking Erica wondered if there were any hollow patches around. Cue revenge for a couple of chapters ago.

No sooner that did Keith fall into a hollow patch of leaves. Dead, wet leaves.

"Unbelievable..." Muttered Keith.

Brett pulled his friend out of the dead pile of leaves. Erica watched this and started thinking about a strange possibility.

'Could it be that they...' Some gears started turning in her head and she immediately shuddered.

'No. No, I shouldn't ever think that ever again.' Keith noticed Erica's face twitching and he became curious as to what was bothering her.

"What's wrong?" His question broke her out of her thoughts. Erica started to spout random words when Brett noticed her face as well.

"Nope...uh...maybe...look a new pokemon!" Both Brett and Keith dropped their guard and started to look for this new pocket monster. The blond sighed, those thoughts should've never been thought.

As they continued along the route, they started to see what looked like destroyed buildings. As Brett walked past one of them, he noticed that it had an underground entrance. The black haired boy's curiosity forced him to walk down there. Erica was about to venture in with him when Keith stopped her.

"What's wrong?"

"When he goes into one place that is haunting, it is best to just leave him to it." Explained Keith.

Instead they walked down a route adjacent to the route that they were walking along. At first it seemed that it like a maze, because of all the tall grass, tall enough that it reached above their heads.

The blond was ready to venture into the grass, but a pokemon suddenly jumped out of one of her. It looked like some halloween chocolate pumpkin treat. A ghost-grass type, Pumpkaboo.

"What is that?" Asked Keith as he pulled out his pokedex.

"It looks tasty." Keith was shocked to hear that coming from Erica, she was spending too much time around Brett.

Whilst Keith and Erica were taking a look at the things above ground, Brett was moving about underground. He found that the underground place was actually some rundown hotel.

How a hotel could be brought below ground level was far beyond Brett. However, that didn't stop trainers from going down there. The underground hotel was loaded with punk guys and punk girls.

"Alright, time to get my game face on!" Yelled Brett vigorously.

Above the surface, Keith and Erica continued through the maze of grass. Whilst they continued through the route, Keith began to notice that Pumpkaboo seem to come in different sizes. Erica was currently battling one that was almost as big as she was.

"Alright Phoenix use flamethrower." Flames spewed from the bird to knock out the pumpkin pokemon.

Keith looked onto his pokedex and found that there were four different sizes for Pumpkaboo. That one was a large size.

"Did you notice that the pokemon we've been battling are coming in different sizes?" Asked the teacher to his companion.

"No, I've been thinking too much about chocolate." Answered Erica as she drooled and Keith twitched at hearing that answer.

"I think that you're starting to spend to much time around Brett." Noted Keith.

"No, I've just always had an affinity for chocolate." She crossed her arms in denial.

They came upon a giant rock that blocked their path, so Keith called out his Chesnaught. They both pushed the rock into a ditch, making it possible for them to cross. On the other side lied a large pond for fishing.

"Wow, I think that we should fish." Suggested Keith. Erica didn't think that it seemed to fun at the time.

Back at the underground building Brett defeated trainer after trainer. Right now he was battling against a trainer that was using two Liepard against Athrun.

"Use a double power-up-punch!" The twin swords pokemon spun and punched the two dark types, simultaneously knocking them out. Both trainer and pokemon hopped in victory.

The veteran retrieved his pokemon and continued to venture further into the building, it didn't take long before he came upon a closed gate. Brett looked around to see if there was any way to open it, he found that there was a punk guy nearby.

"Hey do you think that you can open that gate?" Asked Brett.

"As if, you don't have the skills to meet our master." This guy was apparently rude.

"What kind of skills?" Asked Brett as he whipped out a pair of clip on roller skates.

Erica did like pokemon battles and the chance to grow with her pokemon friends, but just following around Keith as he defeated fisherman after fisherman was just boring for her. She groaned in frustration as Keith finished off the Poliwhirl with his Florges.

"I'm sorry, did you want to take him down?" Asked Keith as he noticed his companion's boredom. She decided not to be too harsh on him.

"No, but I think we spent enough time here." First be polite. If that doesn't work, use force.

"What? But there is still so much more fishing to do." Complained Keith. Now Erica shall use force.

So Erica decided to rush this. And by that, I mean that she grabbed Keith by the ear and dragged him back to route 15. Yep, just like in the anime.

Once they were back to the previous route, Erica and Keith met back up with Brett. He was sitting down on a nearby rock and he was holding his side. Keith knew that he got himself in trouble. But Erica was just worried for her friend's sake.

"Oh, hey guys." Greeted Brett weakly.

"What happened to you?" Said Keith, he pointed to Brett's side.

"Well, the guys down there said that I didn't really have what it takes to challenge their master, so I tried to prove them wrong." He weakly laughed at his own stupidity.

Erica grew worried when she hearad that. It seemed that Brett's own stubbornness could hurt him more than it annoyed her. She walked over and pitched his arm over her shoulder. Like a good friend she was ready to help out.

"C'mon, lets get you to a doctor." Said Erica.

Once they passed through the gate, the gang had made it into Dendemille town. It was a small town with cold climate and no gym. Which was good, this way Brett wouldn't have any real challenges and he could spend time resting.

"This is a nice place." Commented Keith.

"Yeah, I think that they grow crops in the summer time around here." Said Erica as she noticed the crop fields. Luckily for them that the pokemon center could also treat people for minor injuries.

After Brett was put into the pokemon center, Nurse Joy immediately told them that Brett just needed some rest for his bruise to heal up. And that included him staying away from battles. Even though she hadn't known him for long, the blond knew that the black haired boy wasn't exactly one to stay still.

"Thats not gonna be easy." Sighed Keith as he and Erica exited the center.

"He's that battle thirsty?" Asked Erica even though she already knew the answer.

"Yeah, one time he battled a giant ice dragon pokemon despite that he couldn't feel his legs." Keith shook his head at that memory.

Erica laughed at that too. She then thought a moment about the her two companions. Sure, she knew that they were foreign. But it seemed that they knew just a little too much about traveling, and it also seemed like they had great experience.

"Hey Keith, what exactly-"

"Oh there you two are!" Erica was cut off by the arrival of Professor Sycamore and Dexio.

"Hello professor." Greeted Keith.

"It's good to see you again." The blond decided to put that question off till another time and greeted the professor. Sycamore then looked around for a bit, curious about something.

"I see that Brett isn't with you, where is he?" Asked Sycamore with a curious face. The female protagonist pointed to the pokemon center.

"He is resting up in the center."

"Ah I see. You know, you should treat him to some of the local ice cream. There are a lot of great food markets around the Kalos region." Started the professor with a laid back smile.

"Professor.." Warned his assistant.

"Relax Dexio, I'm going somewhere with this." Sycamore waved his hands.

"And in those markets, there are many rumors that spread about. Like about legendary pokemon." It was at this point that he was starting to gain their attention.

"There are many stories that roam about. They mostly pertain to the legendary pokemon of life, Xerneas. And the legendary pokemon of death, Yveltal." After hearing that last explanation he had the full attention of both of the trainers.

Keith showed a face of surprise and realization. Erica's face was surprised as well, but she was starting to show some more of interest into the subject.

"The legends say that the eyes of Xerneas represents the shape an X. Legends also say that Yveltal's body represents the shape of a Y." Explained the professor. He held up both of his hands to demonstrate the two different pokemon.

Erica was taking this information into her head as she was trying to figure out how such concepts of life and death could be left up to such beings. She couldn't hear Sycamore talking until he said her name.

"You know, I'm proud of how far you three have come. I only hope that you can keep making good progress." Commented Sycamore. He and Dexio left after that.

Despite the complement that the protagonist had just received, she was still caught up in the thought of those pokemon. Deep down in her heart, Erica wanted to meet with these two pokemon. Her experience told her that Keith would probably know something about this.

"Hey do you-" Erica noticed that Keith seemed deep in thought and couldn't say anything.

'Could it be...I know from experience that people can go to extremes...could such power really be left to..." He was seeking his thoughts for a fit to this equation.

"Keith?" Asked Erica worryingly.

Keith snapped out of his thoughts and gave a reassuring look.

"Sorry about that, I was distracted by Sycamore's speech." He looked around a bit for something to do. He noticed a mountain in the distance.

"Maybe we should go there." Suggested the brown hair. Erica was still a little worried, but she thought maybe a little exercise wouldn't hurt.

As they left, they didn't notice Brett sneaking out of the pokemon center. His side still hurt, but he thought he could grit his teeth past the pain.

"Like I'm gonna stay still."

Once Keith and Erica walked further up the trails they found many of the ground-ice type mammoths, Mamoswine.

"What are these?" Asked Erica.

"They're Mamoswine." Answered Keith he walked up and started to pat its tusk.

"But these guys are supposed to gather up further up the mountain." He looked back to the nearby mountains with a questioned serious look.

"Then is it possible that something is wrong up there?" Asked Erica. She got the answer by the fact that Keith just walked up towards the mountain.

On the route east to the town, Brett was trying to traverse through the large columns of snow in search of a match. He really is an idiot, isn't he? The cold temperatures forced him to stop.

"Ok, apparently thats not happening any time soon." Muttered the black haired boy in defeat.

Brett then started to think about what he could do. He remembered that Rhyhorn could be used to ride over some rocky plains. The veteran trainer spotted another person closer to the gate.

"Hey can you tell me if there are any four-legged pokemon around here?" Asked Brett.

"Well there are usually Mamoswine. But something must be wrong up in the mountains."

"Mountain you say?" Brett turned to see a large mountain in the distance.

Well, who else smells trouble coming from afar? Anyways, thank for reading this chapter. Hoped you liked it, feel free to leave a guest review. In the next chapter our heroes will tackle against Team Flare again, but this match will prove to have a different outcome than before.


	18. Chapter 18

Disclaimer: I don't own pokemon. If I did, I'd make sure that all playable pokemon could be shiny in Smash Bros.

"Speech"

'Thought'

Erica didn't really much like cold mountains, so she was reluctant to enter this cavern. But she knew that if there was evil around, she would need to stop it. However, she refused to go into this place wearing light clothing.

Approaching the mountain, Keith touched the sides of the entrance. It was as if the brown haired trainer was looking for something, or someone. As he looked around he then noticed that Erica wasn't around.

"Erica?"

"What?" He turned around and noticed that she changed into a thicker outfit. A red trench coat to be exact.

"Really Erica?" She crossed her arms in slight irritation.

"Hey, don't compare yourself to normal people." Her friend really couldn't counter since he was really far from normal.

They didn't notice that there was another entrance to the east of them. It was pretty hard to see, especially given their position. But somehow, Brett was able to find it. He was about to walk in when he felt some pain flare up in his side.

"Tch. Better make this quick."

The two of them walked into the cave and started to walk around, but not noticing how the floor was made of ice. Keith figured it out as he slipped on said ice and into a wall. Erica couldn't help but laugh at his position of being right side up.

"Thats not usually like you." Noted the blond.

"I think it is because Brett isn't here." Explained Keith as he got up.

They traversed through the ice cavern to see that not many of the trainers were around to stop them from continuing. Keith became curious as to why they weren't trying to challenge either of the trainers to a battle. Erica picked up on this and decided to ask a nearby hiker.

"Hey, why aren't you trying to challenge us?" She asked to the hiker.

"Well, some guy already curbed stomped me." He shrugged his shoulders in defeat. The blond protagonist became curious about this trainer. She wanted to battle him with her pokemon.

"Can you describe him?" The hiker scratched his chin in an effort to recall the image.

"Well, he was about 15 years old, and he had black hair."

Keith and Erica took a few moments to allow that information to sink in. When it finally clicked together, they both grew the same face. It was a cross between question and realization.

"We should have known." Whispered Keith as he pinched his nose.

"But how did he get out of the pokemon center?"

So after learning of just how stupid her friend could be, Erica made the decision to find him and bolster him down.

"Keith, do you have any sedatives?" Asked Erica.

"Maybe, why?"

"We're gonna need them for when we run into Brett." Even though her tone was a harsh one, Erica was more worried about her friend.

Deeper into the cave, Brett ventured in further with Kyu by his side. His side was becoming sore, and because Kyu was bipedal she was the only one who could help him. Right now instead of having the lust for a battle, Brett was more interested in finding out why the Mamoswine were out of there natural position.

"I'm sorry to ask this of you Kyu." She barked in response to his lament.

"Ok, if you don't mind." As he and his pokemon continued throught the cave, Brett came upon a sight.

There were footprints, a good bit of them. The shape indicated them to be shoe prints. Not only that, but they were also loafers. Brett knelt down to get a closer look at the footprints.

"Loafers? Now who would be stupid enough to do that?" Asked Brett, oblivious to the irony.

Kyu helped him back up on his legs and tried to take a close look herself. She barked back to her trainer, who some how was able to understand her.

"Yeah, I don't get it either."

The pokemon and trainer moved on foward, but neither noticed the important detail that lied in the footprints.

Elsewhere in the cave, Erica and Keith were stumbling to get around and find their friend. Erica noticed how Keith was moving along quickly. She was about to ask him to slow down, but he ended up slipping on the ice and hitting the wall again.

'Why is he moving so fast, so recklessly?' She was about to ask when it became apparent.

'If Brett is still injured, he might not be capable of defending him or his pokemon.' It was obvious that his pokemon were strong and were willing to defend him if it came to that. But there is only so far that they could go without being distracted about their trainer.

"Erica, I know that you're in thicker clothing, but can you hurry up?" Asked Keith.

"Yeah, but don't worry. Brett won't be defeated by some pushover, right?"

Keith gave a look of surpise, that was good reassurance. He stopped and put his hands on Erica's shoulders.

"You are really blossoming into a great trainer." Erica gave a look of surprise mixed in with a blush. Keith was happy for her, but his face returned to being serious.

"I know that Brett is a strong battler. But right now he is injured and I just want to make sure that he is ok." Erica nodded and understood her friend's concern. She looked down to the ground, contemplating who was more worried at the moment. While she was doing that, she noticed some footprints.

Keith followed her gaze and found the same footprints. Their faces paled as they noticed the crucial detail within the footprints. A detail that made both of them pale in worry, the Team Flare symbol.

"Erica-"

"I know, lets go!" She grabbed Keith's hand and they ran further into the cavern to stop Team Flare.

They ran further into the cave, coming upon a room with several more people. The antagonistic Team Flare. This time they consisted of a scientist and two female grunts. They were cornering the snowman pokemon, Abomasnow.

"I don't see much more reason to deal with this annoying pokemon." Said one of the grunts.

"Nonsense, it has much potent energy. A fine specimen indeed." Said the blue-haired scientist.

Keith was about to step forward when Erica stepped up in his place.

"What do you think you're doing!?" Yelled Erica.

The blue scientist turned around revealing her strange mechanical visor. That device really caught Erica's attention, it seemed that all the scientists made use of that device. She felt inquired to learn more about it.

"Catching pokemon of course."

"That doesn't seem to right. It looks more like you're bullying that pokemon to your bidding." Suggested Keith. The blue haired scientist just laughed in response.

"Well what else are we supposed to do with a bunch of pokeballs? After all, Team Flare will be all thats left. We will need strong pokemon." Answered the scientist.

Erica and Keith pulled out their pokeballs to battlle against the Team Flare. The scientist sent out her grunts whilst she attempted to weaken the Abomasnow.

The grunt that battled Keith sent out a Mighteyena, and the other sent out a Manetric. Erica sent out Psyedge while Keith sent out a giant rock pokemon with four arms, and strangely a claw for a face. The searock titan, Barbaracle.

"The Binacle evolved?" Questioned Erica. Keith nodded in return.

"Yep."

"Mightyena, use thunder fang."

"Manetric, use bite."

Both of the hound pokemon attacked while utilizing type advantage. Erica was starting to see that this wasn't gonna be easy.

Meanwhile, Brett was wandering the cave tunnels. It seemed that while he was injured, he was also bad on directions. By now, he had returned Kyu so she wouldn't have to carry his burden. It was around this time that he came to the conclusion that the Mamoswine were just seasonally avoiding certain areas.

"Maybe I should've waited for my friends." Suddenly Brett stopped and started to whiff the air.

"I smell a battle." He took another whiff.

"And it is intense." Brett got up, ignoring the pain in his side, and then ran in the direction of the smell.

In the direction of said smell, Erica and Keith had finished off the grunts. However, Erica knew that Keith would have a better time taking on this scientist that she would. From experience, she had yet to defeat a scientist on her own. The heroine wanted to defeat her, but she swallowed down her pride.

"Keith, you go ahead, you're better at this than I am." Pleaded the blond. Keith understood what his companion was asking him to do.

"Don't worry, I'll take her down." Keith retrieved his worn out Barbaracle and he sent out Florges in the water type's place.

"I accept and by the way, the name is Maple." Said the scientist as she sent out a Houndoom.

"Florges use dazzling gleam." The fairy shot beams out of it's eyes. Keith wasn't about to waste time as he took type advantage.

"Houndoom, use a flamethrower." Fire spat out of the hound as a counter against its opponent.

Both attacks landed against their intended targets. But the Florges was left with a burn. Keith cursed his luck in irritation. Erica made use of this time to help the Abomasnow evacuate from the area. She ran over to the giant and ushered him towards the exit.

"Go on, get out of here quick." The ice type pokemon hugged Erica as if it was thanking her and then ran off.

"Florges, use captivate." Florges shot out a look of attractiveness which lowered the attack of the opponent.

"Like that'll work, houndoom use howl."

As far as it looked, this battle was turning into a stalemate. Erica watched from the sidelines, wishing she could help out her friend. But she knew that in this situation it would be best not to ruin his concentration. Something that she could do is find Brett and stop him, speaking of which...

"ALRIGHT, I KNEW I COULD SMELL A BATTLE!" Everyone turned their attention to the newcomer who could apparently smell a battle from afar.

"Who is this guy?" Asked Maple. She pointed her visor to him, like she was trying to scan him.

"Brett?" Keith was caught out of his battle stance.

"But you're supposed to be in the center resting!" Yelled Erica she ran over to him to corner him. She knew that Keith was in control of the battle, but Brett might attempt to take over at any moment.

Now he was literally trapped. Team Flare was in front of him, but so was his blonde friend who wouldn't let him pass.

"Come on Erica, let me through." Demanded Brett.

"No, you're still not 100% ready." Retorted Erica as she pointed to the side that Brett was holding. He was stronger that her, but Brett could get past Erica this time. She crossed her arms and bore an upset face.

"Besides, Keith can handle this." Brett pointed behind her.

"Tell that to his pokemon that just fainted." Erica turned around and noticed that Keith had indeed retrieved his Florges.

"Fine, now come on out Raichu." Keith had sent out the evolved form of Pikachu, he must've picked up a thunderstone form somewhere recently.

"Use thunderbolt."

"Flamethrower." Both attacks missed their targets and instead struck parts of the ceiling.

"Raichu, use electric ball." The large mouse pokemon shot a ball of electricity that was too fast for the houndoom.

"Damn, Houndoom counter with a fire blast." The dark hound shot out a flame that was as hot as thirty furnaces.

Raichu dodged again from the attack, but Keith was starting to realize a problem in all this. Their electric attacks and fire attacks were starting to melt the ice around the cave. The structure wouldn't be able to take much more of this damage.

"Wait, we have to stop." Declared Keith as he put his hand up. The scientist just pumped her fist in denial.

"Team Flare never gives up!"

"But if we don't-" Keith was cut off as the cave started to rumble. Erica and Brett looked up to see that the cave was melting and caving in.

Both trainers returned their pokemon and evacuated from the collapsing den. This was a new challenge for Erica, for her it kinda felt like some kind of Indiana Jones scene. Brett immediately pushed her to give her a head start.

The blond quickly took advantage of the help that her friend gave her. All three of the trainers ran as fast as their legs could possibly take them.

On the outside, dust started to fly out of the cave as our heroes flew out with it. The trainers landed head first against the icy ground. They remained unconscious for some time. When they regained consciousness, it seemed that night had taken over.

"Ugh, what happened?" Groaned the blond as she got up.

"We must've fallen head first against the icy snow." Answered Keith. As they stood up, they noticed something crucial.

Brett wasn't there.

"Where is Brett?" Questioned Keith frantically. Erica was just as worried as her friend, if not more, but she tried to offer a solution.

"Maybe he went to the pokemon center?"

Erica felt as if it was a stupid question to even think about. Keith's face that was spread with worry reminded her of the face he and Brett bore when they realized Team Flare's plan in the power plant.

"Ok, you go back in check in town. I'll go back into the cave." Proclaimed Keith.

Erica ran back into town, she asked frantically if anyone had seen her friend. Nobody had seen such a person. She even gave exact descriptions of what he looked like, acted like, and even what pokemon he had. But to no avail, not a soul had seen Brett.

Reluctantly, Erica returned to the cave to help Keith search there for any sign of Brett. Once she reached the entrance Keith was waiting there, facing away from the town.

"I'm sorry Keith, no one has seen him." She then noticed that he was holding a white gem stone that had an orange core that was hooked to a necklace. A new idea popped up in her head, maybe somebody had seen his pokemon. Erica was about to ask Keith, but he spoke first.

"I'm sorry too, Erica." Apologized Keith. He turned around and walked away from the cave. Erica started to feel cold on the inside, a horrible despair was starting to grip at her heart.

"But there isn't anything else we can do." Now came the words that she didn't want to hear.

"Brett...he didn't make it." Keith spat out that sentence as fast as he could. Even though she couldn't see it, Erica knew that Keith was trying to hold back tears.

Those words stabbed Erica through the heart. She fell to the ground, Erica didn't want to believe it. Nothing in the world could make her want to believe that could to happen to her friend, especially the one who she viewed as her big brother.

"...No..." Tears streamed down her cheek and onto the cold ground.

...Wow...so...uh...yeah. You can leave a guest review if you like. The next chapter will be a more cheery one, promise.


	19. Chapter 19

Disclaimer: Pokémon, the successful Japanese franchise, is not under the control of me, GalaxianDragon. If that wasn't already clear enough.

"Speech"

'Thought'

**'Electronic Speech'**

A young blond girl sat in a park, she was alone and sad. Her sobs were caused by the fact that nobody would play with her, nobody would be her friend. Her tears just kept streaming down because she couldn't do anything else.

"Why won't anybody play with me?" Whined the young girl.

"Because you're strong." Her gray, puffed eyes looked up to see an older boy with black hair. He held out his hand to help her up, she took his hand and stood up. Her face was still wet with tears, so the boy took out a handkerchief and wiped her face off.

The young blond didn't like that feeling, who doesn't? When he stopped she gave him a pouty face, in response he grinned a laid back smile. His hand was held back out as an offer.

"I'll play with you." Offered the young boy. That offer shocked the girl, but it also filled her up with happiness. She now had a friend that would stick with her and help her up.

Her face soon lit up with joy. The two soon played the pokemon trading card game. The boy played a Blastoise card, and in response the girl played a Talonflame card.

"My Talonflame attacks with flare blitz and beats your Blastoise." Proclaimed the girl, the boy sighed in defeat and retrieved his card. The little girl was having the time of her life, nothing could ruin this for her.

But suddenly, several explosions started to go off near the two. A trail of fiery bursts that continuously got closer and closer to the two. On instinct, the boy dove in to protect the girl.

"ERICA!"

Erica woke with a jolting start. As she sat up, she placed her hand on her chest to slow down her heart. The nightmare left her with a head wet from sweating. Everything seemed alright, but Erica only wished that yesterday was just a nightmare.

"But why...why would that ever have to happen?" Her hand met with her face to calm her. She turned to notice that Keith's bed was made up, and all of his stuff had already gone.

Keith stood in front of the ice cavern, it had since emptied out. It was as if he was waiting for his friend to come back. Disappointed, he held up the stone.

"I'm sorry Kate." Whispered Keith. He heard footsteps and turned around. Erica approached him, she wanted to be there to comfort her friend. Her eyes remained pointed to the ground before she worked up the courage to talk to him.

"I miss him too, you know?" Asked Erica Keith nodded in return.

"Yeah I feel your pain."

Several seconds passed, but for both of the trainers,it felt like years. In the end of the silence, Keith decided to make the next move.

"...We never did tell you about ourselves, did we?" Asked the brown haired boy. Erica had always wanted to know more about both of them, but she felt like being happy at this particular moment wasn't a right thing to do.

"...No, not really." Keith turned around with a face painted with determination.

"Well, you deserve to know." Erica turned to Keith with a look of slight surprise. She thought that letting him do what he wanted to do seemed like a good thing to do.

"Ok, if you want to."

"I am the Kanto champion, and Brett was the Johto champion." Whispered Keith. But Erica heard it loud enough to be surprised.

"...Well...that explains why you two were so good." She noticed the gem he was holding.

"What is that?"

"It is a promise stone, Brett always wore it for somebody important." Answered Keith, he handed the stone to her so she could get a better look at it. It looked just like a fire incased in ice. Erica searched her thoughts as to who Brett would wear this for.

'The girl in those photos' Thought Erica. She gave the necklace back to her friend. He turned back to face the ice cavern. Keith continued to explain the stone.

"I know that if Brett was still alive, he wouldn't just leave it behind." That explained how Keith came to the conclusion that Brett had died yesterday. The blond took in the information, even if she didn't want to.

"But, I'm just so shocked by his death. I just can't bring myself to accept it."

"You know...even though he taught me a lot about pokemon, Brett felt more like a big brother to me than a friend." Admitted Erica, her friend would be lying he said that he wasn't surprised. The younger teenager walked over and grabbed his free hand.

"If I know anything about Brett...he would want us to grow stronger...he would want us to defeat Team Flare. And he wouldn't want us to be sad." Her hand trembled in his grip. Keith stood there silently for some time he kept his grip with his friend. Erica contemplated on whether to help him move or not.

"...Yeah...I guess you're right."

Erica looked up to see his eyes that were ready for the next challenge. He put up a sad smile, trying his best to cheer her up in return.

"Ok, let's go then."

Keith walked away silently, his heart still held down with sorrow. However, Erica stayed behind for few more seconds. She looked back at the mountains just like Keith was doing. Her eyes were held down with sorrow as well, but they soon became determined.

'I promise Brett, I'll become the best I can be...no, I'll go beyond my limits, with my pokemon.' She held out her handful of pokeballs, each with a different partner that she had come to know. Placing all of the pokeballs back into her bag, Erica turned to leave.

And so she left the past behind her.

The next route over was a snowy route with large columns of snow. And with such an obstacle came a solution, in the form of giant mammoth pokemon. Erica walked over to the giant pokemon and petted in on the side to gain some trust.

"I think he'll offer us a ride." Suggested Erica, Keith rubbed the head.

'He might be paying us back for clearing the cavern.' Thought the brown haired champion.

They jumped onto the pokemon as it carried them through the columns of ice. Erica shivered, despite her wearing a red trench coat. Keith noticed this and had to chuckle a little at his friend's action of hugging her.

"What's so funny?" Asked Erica with irritation, and a red nose.

"It's just so funny when you're like this." It was then a question popped into her head.

"How come you're not cold?" Keith smirked at his friend's question.

"I've been to Seafoam islands, Snowpoint city, and Iccirus city." Answered our brown-haired friend while he was pushing up his glasses.

Erica's face grew very surprised. Those were three of the coldest places in the world. And Keith had been to all three of them? Apparently Keith did more than what was needed to keep his title.

"I've also challenged my fair share of ice gym leaders." And that was enough to make Erica never ask the question again.

Though it took some time, they finally reached the other side. They dismounted from the giant pokemon, and Erica gave it a treat as thanks. But as soon as the Mamoswine left, the pre-evolved version of Abomasnow, Snover, leapt out of the snow.

"I'm counting on you, Dragulong." Erica sent out her poison water type.

The Snover attacked with an ice beam attack, Dragulong stood there and took the hit. Erica knew that her Skrelp wasn't her strongest pokemon, but she believed in him without any doubt.

"Use sludge bomb." The Skrelp gathered up a good amount of poison energy into a ball and lauched it into his opponent.

Snover was knocked down from the hit but wouldn't give up. It got back up and retaliated with by swinging its arms around. Leaves started to swing out of its arms at high speed, the tiny snowman pokemon was using razor leaf.

"Dragulong, use hydro pump." The poison kelp pokemon launched a powerful stream of water at its unlucky target.

The Snover took the hit and was being pushed backwards. But then he fell backwards, fainted. Dragulong started to glow and evolve. His new form was that of a longer and more intimidating Skrelp. The newly evolved pokemon, now known as Dragalge.

"Wow." Commented Erica, she could tell that Dragulong now was more confident by his expression.

"I think I see why you gave it that name now. It's apparantly part dragon type now." Said Keith.

"I just thought it sounded cool."

They passed through the route gate and were met with the north eastern city of Anistar. Immediately upon arrival, Erica noticed that the temperature wasn't as bad here. She took off her red trench coat to adjust to the temperature. After taking their pokemon to get healed, Erica and Keith began looking for the local gym.

They soon found it as a relatively small building. Erica was about to enter when she noticed that Keith wasn't fallowing.

"Is something wrong?"

"I just think that there is something that I should go look into." Explained Keith as he walked off into the western side of town.

Erica just shrugged her shoulders and walked in. And she found that the building was just a small room with a circle pad in the center. The blonde protagonist stepped on the pad.

Then the entire room exploded to show a stellar arena, the challenger was panicking as she fell down onto a walkway. It seemed that Erica noticed that she would have to take a three dimensional maze.

"I wonder if Keith would have any kind of trouble with this?" Questioned Erica.

Speaking of our glasses wearing friend, he was investigating a giant pink crystal that lied on a dock. The crystal had a gaping hole near the center. Keith noted the fact that a set a rings were on the dock as well.

"With that angle." He looked up to check the sun, and then his watch.

"The sunlight will hit it between 7 and 8 at night." Whispered Keith, he then cupped his chin as he thought deeper into the subject.

"But why is it here?"

Back inside the gym, Erica had made it across the stellar paths to meet the gym leader. A woman who had purple hair. She wore a black jumpsuit and somekind of starry night cape. She was also meditating and floating.

"I predicted your coming here." Said the woman as she broke her stance and touched the ground.

"Really?" Asked Erica. Even though she was impressed by Olympia floating, she was skeptical to Olympia predicting the future.

"I am Olympia, I take it that you would like a battle against me?" Asked the gym leader. The challenger nodded and held out her first pokeball.

"Yes, and my name is-"

"Erica Tamashii." The blonde was now just creeped out.

Olympia's first choice was to send out the Nazca line pokemon, Sigilyph. Erica responded by sending out Phoenix to combat aerial combat.

"Psybeam." Sigilyph's eye shot out a beam of psychic energy towards the talonflame.

"Dodge and rally around with flame charge." Phoenix dived underneath the stellar platform and came back around to impact against the psychic flying type.

"Use reflect." Sigilyph created a barrier of psychic energy to decrease the effectiveness of its opponent's physical attacks.

"Now use air slash." The psychic type used the air around it to slash the fire bird.

"Counter with acrobatics." Phoenix flew around with impressive motions. The two aerial attacks impacted their opponents.

Both pokemon fell to the ground, and Erica quickly retrieved her pokemon.

"I guess this battle is gonna be different than others." Noted Erica as she reached for her next pokeball.

"As I predicted, you've admirable skills." Commented the psychic. The teenager was still skeptical to Olympia's ability to see into the future.

"Thank you." Erica sent out the next choice, Laxus. Olympia's next pokemon was the lizard (or is it a hippo?) with the shell on its head, Slowking.

"Slowking, use light screen." Slowking generated a field of more psychic energy to further weaken Laxus's attacks.

"Laxus, use cotton guard." The fur of the Ampharos suddenly puffed up which resulted in his defense being raised.

"Slowking use ice beam." The slow lizard launched a frigid beam towards Laxus, the damage wasn't that bad though. The electric type was a little to egotistical to just give up.

"Laxus, use discharge." The electric type released a vast amount of enrgy that struck the psychic water type with little effect. Because of the light screen still being active, it cushioned the blow for the lizard, hippo, thingy.

"Retaliate with an take down." Slowking charged and impacted against Laxus. The attack succeeded in knocking Laxus to the stellar platform, but after Slowking got up it started to twitch.

"Now use electro ball." Laxus charged up energy from his tail to his head and sent it our int the form of a electric ball. The attack impacted and knocked out Slowking.

With two down, Olmpia sent out her final pokemon. The emo psychic cat, Meowstic.

"I'm not sure if that pokemon is cute or creepy." Commented Erica.

"Meowstic, use psywave." Meowstic releasaed a wave of powerful enregy that damaged Laxus even further. The damage forced Laxus down to a knee.

'C'mon Laxus, hang in there.' As if Laxus could read his trainer's thoughts, he stood back up.

"Laxus use thunderbolt." The Ampharos sent electric energy towards the psychic cat.

"Counter with psychic." Meowstic used a mental attack that stopped the electric stream before it could impact.

Erica gritted her teeth in irritation, but then she noticed a layer of light lift itself off of the psychic type. Olympia noticed that too and realized that she needed to act quick.

"Meowstic, use-"

"Electro ball." Butt in Erica. Laxus followed his trainer's order and knocked out his opponent with his attack.

Olympia conceded in defeat to withdraw her pokemon. She handed Erica the Psychic badge. Erica continued with her usual tradition of thanking her opponent for the match.

"Thank you for that match." Said Erica.

"And to you. I must warn you though, you are soon to be faced with a great trial. Be prepared." Warned Olympia. The heroine's skepticism faded after hearing that, because she knew what the trial was going to be.

"Thanks for the heads up. How do I leave here?" Asked Erica. The purple haired leader pointed to a glowing platform behind Erica. The blond challenger stepped on it and was teleported to outside of the gym.

Keith was standing outside of the gym waiting for Erica to finish her match. He decided that the giant crystal would have to be investigated later. Turning to his right Keith was met with Erica. He jumped in surprise at his friend's sudden arrival.

"Hey Erica. How did you teleport out here?" Asked Keith with his scientific curiousity.

"I couldn't tell you if I wanted to." She shrugged her shoulders.

Suddenly the both got a message on their holo-casters. Lysandre was being projected onto both their screens as he gave his speech.

**'To all members of Team Flare, the time has come.'** Both protagonists appeared surprised. **'The ultimate weapon is ready to fire. Team Flare will be all that victorious. To** **all of you who oppose us and our actions, I say come.' **The message ended with that challenge.

A few seconds passed by. Both trainers remained silent, Erica turned to her friend and they both nodded.

"Lets do it." Commanded Erica.

"Yeah."

Thank you for reading this chapter, hope you liked it. If you like you can leave a guest review. It should be obvious what the next chapter is on, but just in case...'Ahem'...In the next chapter, Erica and Keith take the battle to Team Flare.


	20. Chapter 20

Disclaimer: I don't own pokemon. If I did...I'd...um...make every eighth gym a little harder(? Ok I'm running low on ideas!).

"Speech"

'Thought'

Lumiose city seemed so peaceful at this time of day. Because it was about the time of dusk, the city looked beautiful with a sunset. Two fire flying type pokemon were soon seen flying in to land next to the pokemon center in the middle of the vast city.

The pokemon were a Talonflame and a Charizard. Erica and Keith were riding on the backs of these pokemon. They shared a look of absolute determination for an upcoming battle. Once they got down to the ground, Erica noticed that nobody seemed bothered by the current status of Team Flare.

'I guess that they didn't take the message seriously. That or the message was only sent to Team Flare and those that Lysandre saw as worthy competitors.' Thought the blond, her time around Keith really had change her as she now thought like he did.

Speaking of whom, he broke her out of her thoughts with a tap on the head.

"You're sure that that café is the place that we need to go to?" Asked Keith as he pointed towards the red café. In response to the question, Erica nodded confidently.

"I'm positive, Lysandre owns that café. It would make sense that he would store his lab in there." She had no doubt in her mind about it. Keith nodded and started towards the building when Erica grabbed his hand.

Erica was looking to the side with a little shame, she felt bad that she didn't tell Keith or Brett about meeting with Lysandre when they were here before. The very least that she felt she could do was say that she was sorry.

"Is something wrong?" Asked Keith, he let go of her hand to face her. The blond could feel a lot of guilt, but she had to get this off her chest. That way, even if they did fail to stop Lysandre and Team Flare, she could make some amends.

"I wanted to say that I'm sorry for not telling you about meeting with Lysandre from before." She breathed in as she got that painful feeling out of her.

The brown haired champion held his friends hand in reassurance. He offered her a kind smile that helped ease her pain even more. She could read his thoughts from his facial expression, Keith was telling Erica that true friends forgive each other. His face then returned to that of a serious expression.

"Are you ready?" Erica nodded confidently.

"Yeah, lets do this." She reached into her pocket and held onto the gem that she found in Shalour city.

'Please, watch over us Brett.' Pleaded Erica in her thoughts as she rubbed the stone with her thumb.

They landed in the center of the giant city. Keith retrieved his pokemon and began looking for the enemy base.

They soon found the red cafe that Erica had been to earlier. They found that it was nearly empty, save for two employees. Erica soon noticed hwo Keith wasn't breathing as much. And she soon hearing a strange sound.

"I'm sorry, but we're closed right now. Please report back some other time." Said the Waitress. Keith took in the words she said, his face gave off the impression that he was thinking deeply. Erica was trying to see if she could figure out what he was thinking so deeply about.

"I would but, I'm not a member of Team Flare." Stated Keith with a smirk as he shocked both of the employees. The employee that he was talking to regained her composure.

"Um...excuse me?" Erica was starting to catch onto what Keith had noticed. She felt confident as well.

"You asked him to report back, didn't you?" Questioned Erica, her face was plastered with confidence at their position in the argument.

Now they had them. The waitress panicked and sent out a houndoom. Keith sent out Raichu as a retaliator.

The other waiter sent out a Mightyena to attack Erica. She caught eye of this and sent out her Gallade to counter.

"Mightyena attack with crunch." The dark hound lunged forward to rip apart the psychic-fighting type.

"Psyedge, block it with your arm." Psyedge placed his arm in the way of the attack. "Now use power up punch." Psyedge thrust his fist into the the stomach of his opponent.

The waiter grunted and retrieved his pokemon. Keith showed to have defeated his opponent. Keith then waalked over to the edfe of the room, where a cabinet was located. Tapping it a couple of times, Keith placed his ear next to it.

"Yeah, that sounds about right." Whispered the champion.

Reaching behind his belt, he pulled out his friend, chesnaught. The both pushed on the side to reveal that the cabinet was merely of disguise. Behind the disguise there was a set of stairs leading below ground level.

Walking down the flight of stairs, Keith couldn't help but notice that Erica was a little shaky. He figured that maybe it was the cold air that was getting to her.

"Are you ok?"

"I'll be fine. Its just that with all this riding on our shoulders, I feel a little tense." Answered Erica.

"Yeah, I've been in similar situations."

They soon reached the bottom of the stairs, and into the fabled Lysandre Labs. And waiting for them was Lysandre. He bore his usual cold, emotionless face.

"I see that you made it at last." Commented Lysandre, his welcoming was one that was almost condescending.

"I'm too angry for small talk." Growled Keith. Lysandre decided not to take that into account and continue with what he had to say.

"This world is soon to end. It is impossible to save all the lives. Only the chosen ones will be able to see a tomorrow. Let me see if both of you have that potential." Lysandre pulled out a pokeball.

The blond personally wanted to defeat this man for betraying her trust, but her friend stopped her. Keith pulled out his pokeball and readied himself for a battle, he turned to Erica with a very serious face.

"Go around and find any information that could be useful." Commanded Keith. Her expression showed that she didn't really want to go through with that.

"There are bound to be some people that you can knock down around here." The heroine wanted to defeat this man, but she knew that Keith would have better luck dealing with him.

She conceded and ran through the corridors till she came upon a spinner pad. Which of course, sent her spinning into Team Flare forces.

Lysandre started the battle off by sending out his Mienfoo. Keith chose to send out his Florges, immediately utilizing type advantage.

"Lysandre answer me this, why is it that you are fine with taking away the lives of so many innocent people?" The champion was giving his opponent one last chance with an explanation. But it seemed that it wasn't going to work.

"I doubt that could truly understand. Mienfoo, use force palm." The fighting type jumped forward to attack.

"Use light screen." Keith was clever enough to know that this man might go after Erica afterwards. So the glasses wearing champion decided to buy her some time.

As Erica was being spun along the spinner tiles she suddenly found herself infront of a green warp pad. She stepped onto it to find herself in a new room. And she ran into an old enemy of hers.

"Well, if it isn't that annoying little trainer." Erica turned arond to see the orange haired scientist from the Kalos power plant, Aliana.

"I remember you all to well." Grunted Erica. She could feel a sense of fear in her heart, there was nobody or any special luck to get her out of this battle.

"Lets see if you can pull out another miracle." She sent out a Mightyena. The teenager felt fear and regret going into this battle, but she had no choice to fight back. Her pokemon would be more than glad to help her, and Laxus would be the first.

"Use taunt." The dark hound taunted the electric giraffe. So now it could only attack.

"We'll work through it, Laxus use power gem." The power rocks levitated and launched towards the dark hound.

"Like that'll be enough, Mighteyena use crunch." Mighteyena launched itself at its opponent to bite down with great force. An idea clicked in Erica's head as she took in the range of the two pokemon.

"Laxus, use discharge!" The Ampharos released a large amount of electricity from his body onto his point-blank target. Knocking it out in the process.

"I see that you've gotten better since the last battle." She recalled her defeated pokemon and sent out the next choice, Druddigon. A dragon that was covered from head to two in spikes.

Erica recalled her pokemon too, and sent out Dragulong. She knew that his dragon typing would leave him open for super-effective attacks, but so would Druddigon's.

"Dragon claw."

"Sludge bomb."

The two dragon attacks were able to hit the targets accurately. Both the spiky dragon and the seaweed dragon were left damaged by the attacks. But the Druddigon was left poisoned by Dragulong's poison point.

"Crap, Druddigon use revenge." The dragon gained an angry face and smacked down the dragalge.

"And hydro pump." The dragon poison type launched a geyser of water that swiftly defeated the angry dragon. And cooled him off too (am I right?).

Aliana reluctantly returned her pokemon. She reluctantly moved out of the way to let Erica pass through.

"If you think that you've go the strength to win, then prove it. But you'll never defeat Lysandre-sama." As Erica walked past Aliana she noticed that her visor was once again beeping.

By this point, Erica had come to the conclusion that those visors had some kind of effect on the scientists. She decided to pluck the answer out of Aliana.

"What can you tell me about that visor you're wearing?"

"It was a gift from Lysandre-sama for my position." She seemed a little infatuated about her boss.

While Erica was focused on that, she didn't realize that she had conquered what she was scared of and defeated one of the scientists. This newfound confidence and bravery would prove very useful later down the road.

Back at the battle between Keith and Lysandre was, at the moment, turning into a stalemate.

"I believe that it is about time that your light screen wears off." And just as he said it, the layer of protection was lifted from the fairy type.

"It doesn't matter, hit em' with a moon blast." Florges launched a blast that shined like the moon. The Mienfoo pushed hard against the blast, but fainted. Lysandre recalled his pokemon and sent out his next choice, Pyroar. It was a lion with a mane in the shape of flaring flame.

"I can bet that I'm not the only one trying to stop you right now." Threatened Keith as he exchanged Florges for Barbaracle.

"That is where you're wrong, only the members of Team Flare and Sycamore's pupils had received that message."

Keith paled at hearing that, only the ones who possessed a pokedex could fight back against Team Flare. And one of them was out of commission. However, Keith refused to give up.

Erica continued through the maze of teleportation and spinners. She came upon a room. Walking into it, she expected to run into more of Team Flare. However, she ran into the masked people.

"Hey, have you seen a tall guy around here? Like 9-foot tall?" Asked the blond masked boy. The protagonist scratched her head in search for an answer.

"No I haven't." Answered Erica, she remembered the mysterious man that she ran into at the Kalos desert that fit that description. But that man wasn't here at all.

"Well, there are a good bit of Team Flare grunts here. You'll need these Erica." The red masked girl handed Erica a good bit of pokemon medicine.

Some max revives and full restores, this would be really helpful down the line. The heroine was about to thank them when she noticed an important fact.

"Thank you, but how did you know my name?" Asked Erica and the masked people started to sweat.

"Uh...well...you just look like an Erica." Explained the girl as both of them left. She watched them leave as she noticed that there was a resemblance between them and Sycamores assistants.

Erica left quickly after to look for more of Team Flare to knock down, and more information to gain. She had to run through the spin tile maze till she found another room to enter. And in it, she found the scientists that she met from the Pokeball Factory. Though they didn't seem to recognize her.

"I've seen this kid somewhere before, Celosia." Said the green haired scientist.

"So who is she, Byrony?" Asked the purple haired scientist.

"I have not the faintest idea. But lets defeat her anyway."

"I like the sound of that, I'll go first." Said Celosia as she stepped up to bat.

Erica sent out Venus, and Celosia sent out Manetric to fight back. Erica knew that these two were strong, so she wasted no time.

"I don't have time for this." Grunted the blond as she activated her mega ring, which started up the mega evolution. Both of the visors of the scientists started to flash at the sight of the Mega Venusaur.

"So that is the mega evolution that the boss is so fond of. Manetric, use flamethrower." The electric hound blew forth fire that impacted the grass type.

Venus was still standing even after that hit because of the ability of thick fat. Celosia was surprised by this, but Erica took this chance.

"Venus, use double edge." Venus tackled against the Manetric with great force. The attack was strong but the Manetric still stood.

"Bite with your ice fang." The electric hound leapt forward and gave a frigid bite, but the grass dinosaur's ability held out for her. Erica took advantage of this opportunity to strike back.

"Use petal blizzard." Venus started to shake around before releasing a storm of flower petals that succeeded in defeating Manetric.

Celosia recalled her pokemon and sent out her next pokemon the dark scorpion titan, Drapion. Erica withdrew her tired pokemon sent out Psyedge.

"Drapion use accepunssure." Drapion poked itself on the head to increase a random stat. Its attack rose as a result.

"Psyedge use sword dance."

"Night slash." The dark scorpion slashed down with its claw drenched in dark energy.

"Power-up punch." Psyedge punched the dark pokemon in the stomach. Both attacks seemed to do a fair amount of damage, so the trainers decided to spam this.

"Try it again."

"Do it again."

Both pokemon continued hitting and slashing at each other over and over again. Drapion was about to smack Psyedge one more time, but the Gallade delivered one more punch in the gut (yeah, just like in anime).

Both of the pokemon fell down. But because Erica had more pokemon to send out, she ending up winning.

"My turn." said Byrony as she sent out her first pokemon, Liepard. Erica sent out Phoenix.

"Use taunt." The panther taunted the fire bird so that she could only attack.

"Fine, use acrobatics." The fire bird flew at high speed to impact hard.

"Liepard use night slash." The panther attacked with the same attack as before. As it landed back, it came back with a burn.

"Thats the ability flame body. Now use aerial ace." The talonflame flew down and stuck down the Liepard. Status condition in combination with a STAB powered move granted Erica another step to victory.

Byrony put out a steel dark type, Bisharp. It was a pokemon made of steel with a sinister appearance.

"Bisharp, use dark pulse." Dark energy was circulated around the dark knight (who isn't Batman) and then released to phoenix.

The attack caused Phoenix to flinch, so she couldn't attack. Erica grunted but tried to keep her cool. "Phoenix, use flame charge." Fire encircled the fire type as she charged towards Bisharp, but ended up being knocked back by Bisharp's fist.

"Quick, flamethrower." The bird of fire spewed flames to defeat the steel type.

Byrony pulled back her last pokemon and conceded in defeat. "Looks like you've won."

"Tell me why team flare had done all of those things." Demanded Erica.

"Fine, we stole energy from the power plant to further power the ultimate weapon." Started Celosia.

"And the pokeballs we stole were to capture only the most important pokemon." Finished Byrony.

Erica was a little more than shocked to not have seen that earlier. It was even more surprising that Keith didn't notice it either. She then noticed that their visors seemed to stop blinking, she would really need to get that out of Lysandre.

Speaking of whom...

"I've beaten too many pessimists to just lose to you! Use razor shell!" Yelled Keith as his Barbaracle smashed its claw against the fire lion.

"Everyone meets their match." Noted the team flare leader as he retrieved his pokemon and sent out the small dark bird, Honchkrow.

"This battle is over, use stone edge." The sea-rock golem tore down the small bird with ease, knocking it out. Keith got lucky with a critical hit.

"It would seem that you are indeed one who is destined to succeed after all. One of the scientists has an elevator key, you'll need it if you really want to stop me." Said Lysandre as he took an elevator down.

Keith ran over and pressed the keypad to see if he could hack it, but to no avail at all. He looked around and ran in the direction that Erica ran to. Hopefully, she had some information that could help them.

Erica walked into the last room of the maze, and she ran into the last of the female scientists. She had defeated all the others, but the protagonist had never fought against this one.

So Erica has made some progress on the path of becoming a strong trainer. Thanks for reading this chapter, if you liked it you can leave a guest review. In the next chapter, Erica and Keith continue their battle against Team Flare.


	21. Chapter 21

Disclaimer: I don't own pokemon. If I did, you would always be the last line of defense against the enemy team.

"Speech"

'Thought'

In the last chapter, Erica and Keith had begun the assault on Team Flare's headquarters, Lysandre Labs. Erica had proven herself as a seasoned trainer as she beat three of Team Flare's strongest in a row. Keith had also fought strong as he succeeded in defeating Lysandre.

Erica walked into this final room that showed to be nearly empty, except for one blue hair scientist. Erica remembered this person from the ice cavern the other day. If it wasn't for her, Brett would still be here with her.

Some voice in the back of her head was telling Erica that she should be stealthy, but she really wanted to defeat this person. In the end, Erica picked up a bolt and threw it at the Team Flare scientist. She turned around from the computer she was working with to see who hit her with a bolt.

"You remember me?" Asked Erica. At first the scientist scratched her head in confusion. Her visor started to blink and boop before she recalled who Erica was.

"Oh now I remember. You're one of those trainers from Frost Cavern." Proclaimed Maple.

The heroine felt a little happy that the enemy had remembered who she was, but now she was more concerned about those visors even more. Her small happiness and big intrigue were shoved away b a massive sense of anger and hatred.

"Do you remember my friend, the one who was injured?" Erica wanted to make this scientist go back on her actions.

"No, I don't seem to have any data from such a guy." Before the scientist answered that, her visor had beeped more than a couple of times.

"I'll defeat you for Brett." Growled the blonde protagonist.

"We'll see." She sent out a Houndoom. By now that had become a classic in the group of pokemon that Team Flare had chosen to use.

"Use flamethrower."

Erica sent out Jirai.

"Use you're water shuriken." The greninja threw out several water disks that doused the incoming flames and dealt some damage to the fire hound.

"Use torment." The flame hound use torment to stop Jirai from using water shuriken again.

"Fine, use smack down." Jirai launched a heavy rock towards houndoom and knocked the dark dog right in the muzzle. Houndoom stumbled a little before falling to the ground, knocked out.

"Oh, well aren't you the powerful one?" Commented the scientist as she sent out the dark ice trickster pokemon, Weavile. The blond ignored that comment, her heart was still burning with rage.

It didn't take long before Keith came into the room. He hadn't found any keys that could help him with the elevator, so he assumed that this room must have something. But his prediction didn't include seeing his friend battle one of the scientists.

"Weavile, jump in the air use ice beam."

"Jirai use smack down." The ninja frog threw a heavy rock that launched the Weavile down to the ground.

"Use water shuriken." Jirai finished off the ice weasel with an assault of water disks. The scientist had no choice but to concede into defeat.

"Well, you seem to be very strong don't you?"

"Use water shuriken." Commanded the blond teen. That command surprised everyone in the room, even Jirai was trying to make sure that he heard her right. The trainer quickly caught onto her partner's confusion.

"I know, just do it!" The ninja frog seemed to have no choice but to follow through and start attacking this person.

Maple ran to dodge the incoming water attack. Keith, who was also caught off guard by his friend's action, ran forward to stop Erica. He grabbed her by the wrist and pulled her back, his face was painted with surprise and mild anger. But Erica's face was angry as well.

"Don't try to stop it Keith!" Threatened Erica.

"I'm gonna have to, why are you doing this!?" She broke free from his grip and started to glare at the scientist. Despite her anger, Erica was trying to hold back tears.

"It is because of her, if she hadn't done what she did, Brett wouldn't be dead."

Keith understood immediately what was going on with Erica now. Brett had become an older brother to her and she couldn't stand the loss. An explosion was triggered by Jirai's attack and launched Maple forward, knocking her out in the process. Erica started to inch forward, and Keith instantly knew the intent. He ran in front of Erica to stop her.

"Don't try to stop me Keith." He still did not budge the teenager's feelings started to become ambivalent, she wanted to take revenge but she didn't want to hurt another friend.

And then Jirai walked over to his trainer and reached into her pocket and pulled out her gem. He placed it into her right hand and placed her left hand over it. At first Erica didn't know what to make out of this whole procedure, but soon came together her own pokemon came over and placed his hand on her shoulder. Erica's confused face shifted to surprise.

Brett wouldn't come back through such a hateful method. Erica wasn't going to bring Brett back, instead she would become the kind of person that she had sworn to fight against. She wasn't going to benefit the world with this kind of intent.

The blond trainer collapsed into tears and her partner hugged her to give her consent. Keith walked over and placed his hand on her shoulder. She looked up to him with her teary gray eyes.

"I'm sorry Keith. I just miss him so much."

"I know, I miss him too." He helped his friend up and turned to the unconscious Flare scientist. Erica thanked her pokemon for helping her and returned him so he could get some rest. Keith walked back over with his friend with a card key to the elevator.

"I think this is what we need." He turned back to Maple.

"She should come to some time later." Erica nodded, she wouldn't be able to go on with this if she ended up as a murderer. As they left the room, the blond muttered an apology.

Returning to the elevator was no trouble for the duo. They took the elevator to get down to the second basement floor. Once they were there was Lysandre and a tall man. It was the tall man that Erica saw in the desert. Except the tall man was imprisoned behind electric bars made of dark plasma. He noticed Erica and Keith and started to speak to both of them.

"Listen ones who will fight Lysandre." Requested the man quietly. The heroes listened intently as this information could help them against Lysandre.

"A long time ago there was a man and his pokemon, the man loved this pokemon very much. A war soon broke loose. The man's pokemon took part in the war. Several years passed by and the man was given a tiny box."

Both of the trainers were saddened at hearing that, but they had already experienced that kind loss. They wanted to know what could help them in the fight.

"The man would do anything to bring his pokemon back. So he built a machine that could give life. And so he succeeded in reviving his lost friend. But he couldn't forgive the world that hurt his beloved friend. So he turned the machine into an ultimate weapon."

Erica's face suddenly became a little horrified. She knew exactly what anyone would build a weapon for. And she had almost become just like that man, a murderer.

"The little pokemon must've known that it now had its life from the lives of other pokemon. Riddled with sorrow, the pokemon left the man."

The two knew exactly what this man was trying to tell them. This ultimate weapon that he spoke of, Team Flare had it and was getting ready to unleash it onto the world. Just like some anime, the world was in peril. Only for Erica and Keith, this was life.

"You have to get the key back. Do you want to know unending sorrow like I have?" He gripped the left side of his shirt tightly.

"That is AZ he has the same name as the king that lived three thousand years ago. He had the key to the ultimate weapon strapped to his neck." Explained Lysandre in his cold, uncaring voice. He turned to walk back to the elevator and leave AZ imprisioned.

"Follow me to the deeper chambers." Ordered the fiery haired man.

Reluctantly, the two followed him to find a room that had many of the stones that looked like they were trapping many pokemon. Lysandre was discussing something with some scientist that looked like he had bleached skin. The scientist had two gloves but for some reason only wore the left one.

"The energy we extracted from the stones has nearly powered the ultimate ewapon start up, so we are just about ready to start." Proclaimed the scientist. He seemed very excited about it.

"I see, carry on then." Said Lysandre as he walked past Erica and Keith. He stopped once he was right past him.

"I believe that the chosen ones should be the one's who decide the future so I'll let you decided this world's fate." Said Lysandre to Erica and Keith as he left. But Erica wasn't just going to let him leave like that, she still had some questions to ask.

"Lysandre, just who are those scientist girls that you've been using?" The man stopped and turned to face Erica with a cold look, but she wasn't afraid of that look anymore as she fought back with her own. Lysandre had no choice to answer.

"They were abandoned by the ones the cared about. Left out because there was no more room for them." That answer was given with some reluctance.

The blond then felt some pity for those scientists, especially since she tried to kill one of them. She was about to ask the Team Flare boss about the visors, but he already left. It seemed that he didn't really like interacting with his enemies.

"Oh ho ho, so you two are the ones I've heard so much about." Said the scientist as he walked over, clapping his hands. Erica didn't really like the weird feeling that she was getting from this guy.

"I'd lke to examine you a little closer." The blond teenager's face blushed a little as she hoped that didn't mean what she thought it meant. Luckily he pulled out a pokeball, Keith responded in the same manner. He thought that his friend had done enough for now.

The scientist sent out a purple bat that has four wings and an angry face, Crobat. Keith sent out Charizard, was aiming to match Crobat's aerial speed with his own flying type.

"Crobat, use gunk shot." The bat pokemon welled up and then released a large chunk of ooze onto charizard.

"Charizard, use fire blast on the ground." The false dragon launched a giant ball of flame right beneath crobat. The effect of heat rising sent crobat hurling towards the ceiling.

"Now use flamethrower on crobat." Charizard released a stream of flames unto its unfortunate target.

Keith switched out his pokemon for his Raichu to finish the job. Crobat had quickly freed itself.

"Use x-scissor." The bat swooped down and slashed at the electric mouse with its four wings.

"Use nuzzle." Raichu rubbed up against the bat, causing major damage that had finished it.

"Hm, you're not that bad." The scientist retrieved his pokemon and sent out the reinforcer. The hypnotic squid pokemon, Malamar.

'With that shape, it is more than likely a water type.' Thought Keith. He was aiming to finish this as quickly as possible so he could stop Lysandre.

"Raichu, use thunderbolt." The pokemon followed its trainer's orders and launched an attack.

But it wasn't that effective on its target. That caught the brown haired champion off guard as he expected the pokemon to fall easily to electricity.

"What?" He quickly realized that the enemy pokemon wasn't a water type at all, it only had the appearance of one.

"Use dark pulse." Malamar built up energy and launched it onto the mouse. Keith recalled his pokemon and decided to bust out the big guns.

He sent out Charizard and skipped to mega evolution. This was no time to take it carefully, this was where they were controlling the weapon.

"So that is the mega evolution."

"Charizard use dragon claws." Charizard launched forward and struck down with great force.

"Malamar use psychic." Malamar locked unto the target and released a mental storm unto it.

'What type is that?' Thought Erica she pulled out her pokedex to figure out its typing. Apparently the squid was a dark psychic, that typing was uncommon.

"Charizard, use fire blast." Charizard used an attack of great power that defeated the strange pokemon.

"Well done, and since the boss has declared you to be a chosen one, you should be the one to decide whether or not the weapon should be activated." Declared the scientist as he pointed to Erica with his gloveless hand.

"Me?" She looked behind the scientist to notice that there were two buttons. An orange one and a blue one.

Erica walked forward reluctantly, the anxiety was really getting on her. She kept looking back and forth between the two buttons, she turned around to Keith for help.

"Can you take it apart?" Keith ran forward to give a hand, he knelt down to get a closer look at it.

"Let me have a look at it then-"

"10 seconds left." Said the scientist he wasn't about to let these two people get in the way of scientific results.

9. Orange?

8. Blue?

7. Orange?

6. Blue?

5. Which one could it be?

4. Was this really happening.

3. Erica was starting to panic.

2. What should she do?

1...

"There!"

...Erica pushed the blue button.

"Well? Did that do it?" Asked Keith, turning to face the scientist.

"Hmmm...yes it deactivated the weapon."

Erica and Keith sighed and were ready to get the heck out of this crazy place to find Lysandre before he got too far away. But apparently, this was far from over.

"But I'll activate it anyways."

"WHAT!?"

"Sorry, but I'd really like to see the results of my research." He pulled out a remote and pushed the big red button (hint hint, it's always the red button).

On the monitor, an image of Geosenge town was being shown. The three rocks in the center of town started to rumble before they receded into the ground.

A giant crystalline claw penetrated the surface and rose up from the ground. It rose above the ground and started to open up like a flower, revealing the red core. It then fell to the ground and layed there unactively.

"Hahaha, it is done, the poisonous flower has bloomed and all of the world shall fall to its knees." Laughed the scientist.

Erica and Keith quickly rushed out of the building to run to Geosenge town. Both trainers released their pokemon to get there faster.

In Geosenge town, a trainer flew in on his pokemon. Landing near the pokemon center, he dismounted from his oddly shaped dragon pokemon. And he noticed a good bit of Team Flare.

"We'd better warm up." He reached forward and cracked his hands.

A few minutes later, Phoenix and Charizard flew in the skies that were close to Geosenge town. Keith and Erica tried their very best to keep calm, despite the risks.

"There it is." Said Erica, pointing to Geosenge town.

As they descneded onto the ground, they noticed that an awful lot of team flare grunts were around, but they were knocked out. And there was a trainer there, he had a black dragon type pokemon perched on his shoulder.

Keith and Erica dismounted from their pokemon and walked over to the trainer. The blond felt it would be right to thank this guy. Keith was about to ask him who he was, but the trainer turned around to reveal himself.

"...Brett?"

"Yeah, its me." And it really was Brett. He looked a little different however, his right forearm was bandaged up and he had several bandages over his forehead.

Erica and Keith just stood their, both of them had their jaws agape. Even though she was greatly surprised, Erica fought back tears in her eyes. The brown haired champion felt stupid that he could ever think of his rival dying, but he felt it necessary to ask how.

"But how did you survive?" Brett laughed and scratched the back of his head.

"When I fell through the collapsing cavern, I landed on a stream of water that carried me over to another city. I'm sorry that I didn't contact you guys." Apologized Brett.

Erica ran forward and hugged him, crying into his shirt in the process. "It doesn't matter, we're just glad that you're alive."

Keith smiled that his friend was still alive. He then reached into his pocket to pull out the gem necklace.

"I think that you forgot this." Said Keith as he handed Brett the stone.

"Thanks, I still want to give this back to her." Said Brett as he took the necklace and put it back on.

Erica released her grip, but her eyes still had tears in her eyes. The blond heroine looked at both of her companions, she wouldn't be alone is this final fight.

"Lets finish this." Said Erica, the black haired champion nodded and pointed in a certain direction.

They ran in the direction that Brett was pointing to. Once they got to the end of the trail, the giant rock that Brett tried to destroy earlier was there. Only this time, it was revealed to be a secret elevator. Our heroes entered into it, descending to the control room below.

This would be all or nothing.

Yay he's alive! Thank you for reading this chapter, put a lot of time into it. Hoped you liked it, if you did you can leave a guest review. In the next chapter, the reunited trio heads into the belly of the beast. But which legendary pokemon will they encounter? Will it be Xerneas, or Yveltal? Only the person who wrote this knows the truth.


	22. Chapter 22

Disclaimer: I do not own pokemon. If I did, Misty would've returned to the show in Unova.

"Speech"

'Thought'

In the last chapter, Erica and Keith made progress in their assault on Team Flare. And Brett had come back to rejoin his companions in their battle against the enemy. The ultimate weapon was active again and the clock is ticking, how will this battle fold out?

As the elevator descended, Erica was feeling tense. Brett sensed his friend's nervousness, he patted her on the head to calm her. The blond teenager couldn't help but smile, she missed this feeling. After her friend stopped rubbing her head, an important question popped up in her head.

"Hey guys, how are they powering that weapon?" Keith cupped his chin to think about it.

"You remember those stones back in the labs?" The blond teen nodded. "Well it's more than likely that there are more stones nearby that they are using." Erica then remembered that the nearby route had a lot of giant stones, that must've been where the power was coming from.

Running out of the elevator, our heroes encountered Lysandre in a lab room. Many scientists were also there, each of them were working on individual terminals. The boss was looking outside a glass window that showed some wires, presumably they were connected to the weapon and its core.

"I apologize that Xerosic activated the weapon onto you anyways." Apologized Lysandre, he didn't face the people who had come to challenge him.

"Regardless, everything you're doing here is wrong. Just wrong." Stated Erica.

"There are many innocent people that you're about to kill." Said Keith.

"What gives you the right to chose their fate?" Asked Brett. The Flare boss turned around to face them, his face was painted with determination.

"This world may have people who try to make things right, but it is still filled with those who try to take everything for themselves. What about the mega rings?" He pointed to the one attached to Erica.

"What about them?" She held onto her ring as if it was about to be taken from her.

"What would you've done if there was only one?" Asked Lysandre, the heroes didn't respond as they knew their answer probably wouldn't have been right.

"It is times like that when there are simply too many, and scarcity takes a blow to everyone. I tried to make the world better from my place as a business man, but it came to no avail." The blond knew what he was talking about, even going so far as to help those who had been abandoned like the scientists. But she wasn't deterred from her logic as she still knew it was wrong.

"And what about the pokemon, didn't they help you to get here?" Demanded the heroine. She knew that Lysandre was willing to kill the people who helped him get here, but she could at least see his opinion on the pokemon.

Silence overtook for several seconds, nobody dared to say anyhting. Then the sound of water hitting the floor dominated the room. Lysandre was crying. That caught our heroes off guard.

"Tears?"

"Pokemon are truly wonderful beings, they can help people reach heights that were unimaginable. But the future and that help will be stolen by those who only take."

The orange haired adult looked into the palm of his hand. Lysandre quickly wiped away his tears and pulled out a pokeball. He was not about to let them get in his way. This time Brett stood up to bat.

"I'll take care of him, you guys just go ahead." Commanded Brett.

The brown haired teen trusted his friend enough to let him go, but the blond was a little reluctant. She was afraid of losing him again. But there was so much at stake here. In the end, all she could do was hope that he wouldn't die.

Erica and Keith took his word on it and moved forward towards the power source of the ultimate weapon. As Brett was about to battle against Lysandre, the scientists clear from the room.

Lysandre sent out a white and purple weasel pokemon with sleeve-like arms, Mienshao. Brett sent out Tyco as a combatant, he was betting on power.

"Use power up punch." The fighting type punched Tyco in the gut, knocking him into the air.

"Water pulse." The blastoise took advantage of his aerial position and launched a water attack with better accuracy.

Erica and Keith ran down the corridors as fast as they could. Along the way, they had to battle Team Flare admins here and there. After about three admins defeated the blond had to take some time to heal her pokemon, she then realized just how strong she had become. Keith was keeping guard while Erica was healing up her partners, he spotted something approaching them.

The glasses wearing champion burst out to catch the stalker, but he didn't expect it to be Erica's friend.

"Stop Keith it's just me, Shauna." Said the young girl as she struggled to get out of Keith's vice grip. He let her go, and she fell to the ground. The blond walked over and helped her friend up.

"What are you doing here?" Asked Erica. Shauna held out her holocaster in response.

"I got the message from Lysandre. Tierno and Trevor also got the message, their trying to free some of the pokemon that are trapped in the stones." Explained the petite girl quickly.

Keith was a little surprised at that, he knew that all the pokedex holders had received the message. However, he didn't expect for somebody like Shauna to come. Erica was happy that her friend was willing to come help her friend out, but she need her to be safe.

"You came here to make sure that we'd be ok?" Shauna nodded a little reluctantly. "Thank you, but we can handle this on our own." Erica and Keith were about to continue, but the petite trainer grabbed her friend's hand. The blond turned to face her friend for an answer.

"Well, I've been thinking lately. Friends should stick together." Explained Shauna as her friend's face suddenly became happy and cheerful. The heroine sighed, she was friends with some very strange people.

"Alright then, lets go forward!" Proclaimed Erica loudly.

In the upper control center, Lysandre withdrew his pokemon and readied to send out a different one to stop Brett. The water flying leviathan, Gyarados.

"Time is running out, I'm counting on you to finish the job, Gyarados." The raging pokemon nodded, understanding his trainer's commands. The hot blooded trainer decided to give his kanto starter a rest.

"Tyco, you've done a good job." Said Brett as he reclaimed his pokemon and sent out Artic.

"Use hydro pump." The leviathan shot out a high pressure stream that dealt serious damage to the ice-rock type. But Artic stood it through, he wasn't about to give up. Brett smirked as his pokemon reflected his personality.

"Now use avalanche." Ice energy collapsed onto the Gyarados, but that wasn't enough to stop it. The black haired protagonist cursed his luck as Lysandre too advantage of this moment.

His pokemon understood without words and rammed itself into the Aurorus. Artic was pushed back quiet a bit before he started to fall.

"Alright Artic, come back." Brett recalled his fainting partner and sent out Athrun, who had evolved. Now he was a giant sword that went through a shield. He had evolved into an Aegislash.

"Gyarados, use fire fang." The raging pokemon lunged forward with its burning fangs to pierce the ghost steel type. Brett quickly countered with a new strategy.

"Use king's shield." Athrun generated energy from his shield that blocked the attack, and Gyarados's attack stat became weaker. Lysandre was caught off guard, he hadn't seen a move like this before.

"What?"

"Now use iron head." Athrun jumped out of his shield and slammed against the leviathan, hard.

Lysandre gritted his teeth in frustration at his defeat once again. He recalled his pokemon and walked up to Brett.

Back to Erica and Keith, who had just approached a door. It seemed that it needed a password.

"Alright Keith, wow us with your use of technology." Commanded Erica. Although he didn't like being treated by a lackey by his friend, the glasses wearing teen walked up to the panel and attempted to hack it.

"I can't open it, the system is controlled from somewhere else." Panicked Keith.

"Nani!?" Broken out of her confidence, the protagonist tried to think of a solution.

"I've got it!" Proclaimed Shauna. She pulled out a device that was too hard to describe in words (seriously I tried to describe it several times in the rough draft, it's just too complex).

"What is that?" Asked Erica, she and Keith were very curious as to where it came from.

"Its a device that solves puzzles for you. Clemont gave it to me, and even though this isn't a puzzle it might still work." She walked up to the key board.

The device latched itself onto the keyboard and began to hack it. The keyboard gave an affirming beep, and the door opened.

The three walked into the room to find the core component of the ultimate weapon. Orange cables from above were connected to a giant cylinder. And on the cylinder stood two pedestals. On one of the pedestals, a white tree stood with an X mark on it. On the other pedestal sat a black egg.

The only problem was that the control was guarded by many Team Flare admins.

"Oh no! Not again!" Shauna ran out the way they came.

"Shauna!" Yelled Erica as several of the admins chased after her.

"Erica go and protect Shauna." Commanded Keith.

"But what about you?" Asked the female trainer worryingly.

"I'll be fine." He tried his best to give a reassuring look of confidence, but even Keith was a little nervous.

Erica looked back and forth for a few seconds. Keith was a champion and all, but he had worn himself out too much. But Shauna was an important friend to her. In the end, she conceded and trusted in her friend along with his pokemon.

"Fine, but you better not die." Said Erica as she ran to help her friend.

Back up to the where Brett was, Lysandre approached him silently. The black-haired protagonist didn't make any attempt to fight back against him.

"Why do you try so hard knowing that all of this is going to make things better?" Asked Lysandre. Brett looked down to the side to muster up some answer.

"I don't truly know what tomorrow holds, all I know is that we can all try to make it better and learn from our mistakes." Proclaimed Brett. He held onto his bandaged arm, he was a hypocrite to talk about learning from mistakes.

Brett walked up to the glass window and looked down it, he could see the core from up in the lab. The Flare head saw this and decided to put Brett's hopes down.

"You won't make their in time anyways." Said Lysandre, his opponent just laughed in response.

"C'mon, one of your lackeys must've told you that I was reckless." Lysandre looked back just in time to see Brett smirk. He was about to reach forward to stop him-

But Brett jumped through the glass, and fell a couple of stories.

Below in the core chamber Keith defeated the last Team Flare admin that stood in his path.

"This isn't good. Gather reinforcements!" Yelled the admin as he and the others left. The brown haired champion looked back at the group thinking that they were the reinforcements.

With them gone, Keith walked up to the machine core. He looked up at the tree and egg with analytical eyes.

"Could those be what I think that they are?"

"Yep, they sure are." Keith looked up to see Brett glide down on his sound dragon, Noivern.

"Good job Sonic." Said Brett as he retrieved his pokemon.

"So that is what they needed the masterballs for?" Questioned the black haired champion, the brown haired nodded.

"Yeah, but they failed at that thanks to you and Erica." He took off his glasses and polished them a little. Brett decided to take off his forehead bandage.

"I should point out at this moment that Chesnaught can't battle right now."

"The same goes for Artic."

The two champions looked back at the tree and egg. They then looked back at each other and nodded. This wasn't going to be an easy battle.

"I'll take the tree." Proclaimed Keith.

"Then I've got the egg." Answered Brett.

They walked up to opposite sides of the machines and found that there were a button and a lever on each side. Pulling down the lever, and pressing the button in sync caused the cords to stop absorbing energy.

Tremors shook violently, even more than when the weapon began to activate. Brett and Keith stepped back to prepare themselves for this upcoming battle.

Blue energy swirled around the tree, picking up speed as time passed. Red enrgy swirld around the egg, increasing its speed with each passing second.

The tree shook violently, it was if it was alive. The egg thrashed around, it was as if it was waking up.

Blinding lights began to shine from both of the mysterious objects.

The tree had transformed into a giant blue stag, with golden horns that released rainbows. The legendary X pokemon of birth, Xerneas.

The egg had transformed into a massive red wyvern, with streaks of black all over that displayed a darkening shade. The legendary Y pokemon of death, Yveltal.

Both legends released ear piercing cries and leapt down from their positions to confront the trainers that had awoken them. Despite the display of unbelievable power, Brett and Keith stood their ground.

"Lets do this."

"Too much is at stake to lose."

Erica had defeated the last Team Flare admin that was chasing Shauna. Walking over to her friend, the teenager wanted to make sure that Shauna was ok with being in this place. But suddenly, massive tremors began to shake the area.

"What was that?" Questioned Shauna.

"I'm pretty sure that it was a battle involving both Keith and Brett." Answered Erica, she well enough knew the kind of battles that those two got into.

Shauna looked back and forth from the entrance and the exit.

"Erica-"

"You can go if you want to, Shauna." Said Erica, giving Shauna a face of surprise.

"Some people are just better at some things than others." She turned around to face her friend. "Brett and Keith are both super strong, but I want to help them out with my strength as much as I can." She gave a friendly smile of reassurance.

Erica started to walk off to the core chamber, but Shauna stopped her for a second.

"Pinky promise me that you'll all come back." The blond gave a happy sigh, and hooked her pinky with her friend's.

In the core chamber, two epic battles were taking place.

Brett swirled around the chamber as his Noivern carried him they were being chased by Yveltal.

"Use dragon pulse." Sonic blasted out a purple beam at the dark flying type.

Yveltal took the hit but chased after them and responded by using dark pulse in mid air.

Keith stood his ground against Xerneas. He had Raichu as his battle partner.

"Use wild charge." Raichu charged forth to attack the legendary fairy. And the impact left it with paralysis.

Xerneas stood tall and readied for the next attack. Its horns glowed and converged and shot towards Raichu. That moonblast was strong enough to knock out the electric mouse.

"Take a good rest." He retrieved Raichu. And sent out Doublade, hoping that the steel type could be a good shield.

Brett was forced to a crash landing due to retrieving his pokemon in midair. He sent out Athrun in return.

"Ok buddy, lets do this." Brett looked up and noticed that Yveltal was charging energy from its wings and tail.

Keith was ready to attack with type advantage, but he looked up and noticed that the eyes of Xerneas were glowing with the shape of an 'X'.

"Athrun use sacred sword." Athrun lunged forward to slash Yveltal.

"Doublade, use iron head." The twin swords raced to impact Xerneas.

Both the legendaries used their special attack to counter against the oncoming barrages.

Circles of light gathered around Xerneas and flashed brilliantly, Geomancy.

Yveltal shot a giant beam at Athrun that nearly destroyed the sword, Oblivion Wing.

Xerneas charged forward and used mega horn to knock out Keith's Doublade.

"No way."

"Such power."

Erica continued running down the corridors to catch up with her friends. As she got closer, she could her the sounds of an epic battle getting closer.

Brett stood his ground with Kyu by his side.

"Use mystical fire." The fire fox pulled out a stick and began to wave it to burn the enemy.

Yveltal endured the blast and it eyes were shining for a second. It then released a dark pulse to knock out Kyu. Brett gritted his teeth and retrieved his pokemon. And sent out both Laxer and Tyco.

Keith remained against the blue legend with his Barbaracle at his side. "Use stone edge."

Barbaracle smashed its claw into the ground which caused the ground around Xerneas to split up. But the stag stood its ground and used a powerful moonblast to knock out Barbaracle.

"Crap." Keith recalled his fainted partner and called upon both Charizard and Florges.

Erica ran right into the room, just in time to witness Brett and Keith against the legendaries. She was awestruck at the sight of such legendary pokemon. But she became even more surprised when she realized that her companions weren't doing so well.

"They're losing." Whispered Erica.

She couldn't help but feel drained of energy. If Brett and Keith couldn't beat these enemies, practically nothing could. At that time, Erica reflected on her entire adventure with Brett and Keith.

'I almost beat you too.'

'You want to battle me?'

'Don't worry.'

'We're going to the laboratory.'

'My real name's not Brett.'

'You're wearing boots now?'

'We don't want to say goodbye.'

Those thoughts started to bounce around in her head. People become strong together, Erica had become strong because Brett and Keith had helped her to become such. Maybe she could return the favor. The blond protagonist silently stood up.

"You just can't lose here or now!"

Thank you for reading this chapter, hoped you liked it. If you did like it, you can leave a guest review dor something. In the next chapter, Brett and Keith continue their power struggle against the legends, and Erica faces against the head of Team Flare.


	23. Chapter 23

Disclaimer: I do not own pokemon. If I did, Ash would not lose the league championship every year! Only every once and a while, because I'm strange like that.

"Speech"

'Thought'

"You just can't lose here or now!"

Erica's demand echoed throughout the entire chamber. Brett and Keith just stood still, caught off guard by her outburst. It seemed that even Xerneas and Yveltal were surprised by it, they both halted from their onslaughts.

Brett began to laugh, Keith gave a happy smile. The blond was just left with an extremely surprised face in response. The way that they were acting, it reminded her of when they agreed to travel with her.

The hot blooded champion stood up with his casual smirk. "I don't plan on it. This guy isn't going to push me over."

The analytical champion took his glasses off, becoming more serious. "I've already found the weakness in his strategy."

Erica stood there with her surprised face still, it then changed into a trusting smile. "Thats what I thought."

Both Brett and Keith activated their mega rings so that their pokemon could become even stronger. The mega evolved classic pokemon gave off fierce glares towards their opponents

"Tyco use water pulse."

"Charizard, use flamthrower."

The Blastoise shot several rings of water energy to throw off the flight pattern of Yveltal. The Charizard shot a blue jet stream of flames downward in an attempt to weaken Xerneas's stance.

The eyes of the legendary pokemon started to shine in response to these attacks. Yveltal used disable to prevent Tyco from firing anymore water pulses. Xerneas created a gravity well around itself to bring Charizard into attacking distance.

Yveltal charged up energy in its wings and tails to attack with oblivion wing. Xerneas also charged up energy in its horns for geomancy. The champions caught onto this and decided to make use of type advantage.

"Tyco, ice beam!"

"Charizard use steel wing!"

Both of the super powered pokemon charged forth and attacked, taking advantage of the enemies' weaknesses. Both of the challengers took advantage of this opportunity. Brett pulled out an ultra ball, and Keith whipped out a dusk ball. With pokeballs in hand, our heroes launched them towards their targets.

Xerneas and Yveltal were sucked into the baseball sized devices and fell to the ground. Erica was watching from the side lines and could feel some bit of relief. But it didn't last long as both pokeballs exploded and the two legends burst from their capsules.

But despite the time lag, the two legends still stood and carried out their attacks. Yveltal's beam rained down to strike Tyco, and Xerneas recharged its energy so it could attack Charizard with moonblast. All three trainers panicked, but the two that were in the battle quickly used back up strategies.

"Laxer!"

"Now Florges!"

Laxer jumped in the way of the beam, and Florges took the hit from the fairy blast. Because Laxer had high defense and hp, oblivion wing didn't do enough damage. And because Florges was a fairy type, the moon blast wasn't as strong it could only deal half damage.

"Now use heavy slam!"

"Cast light screen!"

Laxer slammed into the wyvern, utilizing his weight as a weapon. And Florges used light screen to lower the effectiveness of the stag's attacks. Erica was still confused as to how the pokemon could break free from the pokeballs, they would need something stronger than just off the counter pokeballs. Then it hit her, those special pokeballs that she got from the factory.

She immediately pulled them out of her bag to analyze them. In her analysis she discovered that each of them had an 'M' on each of them. Unfortunately, she had no idea what it stood for. They were special pokeballs that you just couldn't just buy at the market so they must've been special in some way.

The blond looked up to notice that her friend's were getting the crap beaten out of them. Yveltal's dark pulse knocked back the Snorlax into its trainer, causing the wound on Brett's arm to reopen. Xerneas charged into Florges and scraped Keith's leg with said horn.

"Guys!" She began to panic, so she decided to hand them the pokeballs that she had. "Quickly, use these!"

Brett and Keith reacted quickly to catch the incoming master balls. The balck haired champion smirked a confident smile. The brown haired was shocked that his friend had two master balls. They soon got back up to win this fight.

"Ice beam."

"Steel claw."

The ice beam shot from Tyco's upper cannon and struck Yveltal right in the center, the red wyvern began to fall.

The claws of iron slashed Xerneas right on its head, the legendary stag tilted at the damage it received.

"Gotcha!"

"Its over!"

Brett threw his master ball towards the falling wyvern, Keith launched the master ball at the weakened stag. The pokemon were, once again, sucked into the pokeballs that fell to the ground. All three of the trainers were still nervous, hoping that would do it.

Even though they were master balls, they still had a one-in-two hundred and fifty five chance of failing. If the pokeballs did fail, Team Flare would take the power of these legendaries and destroy the world. Luckily capture devices didn't explode at first.

One shake.

Two shakes.

Three shakes.

'Come on.'

'If there was one time.'

'Please do it.'

...Click.

Congratulations to the heroes. Xerneas and Yveltal were caught.

Erica's face was silent at first then it morphed into a joyous smile, she jumped up and pumped her fist. Keith sighed and knelt down, exahausted. Brett fell backwards onto the ground, burnt out.

It didn't take long for the trainers to retrieve their partners and then get their wounds treated by their friend. After Erica treated their wounds, she walked over to the two pokeballs. Picking them up she could feel a sense of longing come from inside the master balls. She turned around to Brett and Keith.

"You know, I think that maybe they wanted to test you guys." Said Erica as she walked over to them. "Maybe they wanted to be able to understand humans and believe in them." She walked over and handed the pokeballs back. But this conflict was far from over.

"So that was the power of the legendary pokemon?"

Surprised, everyone turned their heads to the entrance where Lysandre was walking in. But he had some weird equipment on him. He wore a visor similar the ones worn by the scientists, some kind of bronze collar was on his right arm. And he had a backpack on him that had flying drones attached to it.

"That power is pathetic, it relies on the power of erroneous human beings."

"Lysandre? What is that?" Asked Erica, who was baffled by the new look. Despite his previous actions, the mob leader answered.

"Right now, I am being displayed data from your previous battles. The visors worn by the scientists were meant to record battle data." The blond heroine was left with a very bad feeling, she felt pathetic now. Every move that she had used before in her battles against Team Flare were now known to the boss.

"How pitiful though, the two champions have drained themselves of any energy they could possibly use to defeat me." Said Lysandre, indicating that neither Brett not Keith could battle anymore. Both of the injured trainers cursed their bad luck.

Unfortunately, he was right. All of the pokemon used by the foreign champions were in no condition to battle anymore. And neither champion was in any condition to fight back.

"I am going to take the two legendary pokemon back from the two of you." Lysandre walked forward slowly, as if his victory was already secured.

Erica could feel it again, that feeling of not being able to do anything, that helplessness. She felt it as a child, when she lost Brett, and it had returned to her again. But she wasn't without any power, she had her friends, and she had all of her pokemon partners that would stand and fall with her. Erica then walked in front of the ambitious leader. Her face was somewhere in between uneasiness and determination.

"Move out of my way." Demanded Lysandre, his cold glare could be seen through his visor.

"No, I'm not going to give into what you want." Retorted Erica, she gave off an intimidating look to combat Lysandre's. This brave action even surprised both Brett and Keith.

"What do you think you're doing?" Demanded Brett, who was struggling to get up.

Erica turned around to face her friends who were trying to get up. "You know, you two always do all the saving."

At that moment, she could feel her heart and mind welling up with confidence, Erica could feel that she had truly evolved with her pokemon. She gave her companions a confident and reassuring smile. She turned around to face the head of Team Flare.

"Well, I guess I'm sick of just cheering you guys on to win." Her eyes were now plastered with confidence and determination. "I guess that now I want to be the one who saves the day."

Erica pulled out one of her pokeballs to battle.

"Lets go. I, Erica Tamashii, am gonna defeat you!" Her pose was now that of the trainer who had no doubt in either her pokemon or herself.

"Very well, I will be using the power of mega evolution." Said Lysandre as he showed a ring he was wearing that had the ancient symbol for mega evolution.

Erica tossed her first choice for this final bout, Venus. Lysandre sent out his Mienshao. It was speed versus defense.

"Use leech seed."

"Karate chop." The grass dinosaur launched seeds that implanted onto the fighter. But it attacked with a great force, the heroine had to recall her friend to save her health.

"Crap, return." Erica recalled her pokemon and reached for a second choice.

"Alright Phoenix, I'm counting on you." Her childhood avian friend came out for the battle.

"Why do you waste your time fighting for possibility?" Now Lysandre was going to use psychological warfare to see if Erica could keep true to her word. But like before, she wasn't about to be deterred from her goals.

"I don't know but it is something that I'm willing to fight for, use acrobatics."

"High jump kick."

The fighting mongoose became airborne and impacted with the Talonflame. Though it was knocked out, Mienshao left quite the impact.

Lysandre withdrew his pokemon and sent out his Honchkrow, the mob boss bird.

"How can you fight for something if you have no true reason to?" Possibility is easily killed by the desire to find single possibilities.

"Use dark pulse." His dark flying type unleashed a large attack that knocked off Erica's hat, sent it flying actually.

Erica recalled her pokemon to give it some rest. She reached behind to pull a different pokemon into the battle.

"I do have a reason to keep fighting. My friends and family haven't faded into possibilities." She launched her pokeball, releasing Laxus. The lighthouse pokemon came out with pumping fists and surging electricity, he was ready for this.

"Use cotton guard." Laxus expanded his fur coat to give him great defense.

"Torment." Honchkrow started to torment its opponent to prevent it from using cotton guard again. Now Laxus would have to attack.

"Damn it. Laxus use electro ball."

"Acrobatics." Through the use of a few quick turns, the dark-flying type was able to dodge the electric attack and deal damage to the Ampharos.

"No, use discharge-"

"Use acrobatics again!" Erica was caught off guard as Lysandre made a quick move.

Laxus and the honchkrow attacked each other. But because honckrow was faster and wasn't holding an item, Laxus's attack was weaker and didn't defeat the enemy.

"Finish it with dark pulse." Honchkrow deployed another energy pulse that defeated the Ampharos.

"Laxus!" Erica recalled her poorly defeated pokemon.

"Do you see now? I greatly exceed you."

Erica grimaced at that insult, but she wasn't about to give in to what Lysandre would have to say. She pulled yet another pokeball.

"Maybe you are. But I've been taught not to give up!" She threw out her Dragalge.

"Dragulong, use hydro pump." She wasted no time as her dragon poison type defeated the last of energy left in Honchkrow, sending the bird to the ground.

"You see? You're never supposed to give up!"

"I used to believe in words like that, but then I saw how disgusting man can be." He sent out the fire lion, Pyroar.

"Use roar." Pyroar let loose a booming noise that sent Dragulong back into his pokeball, and Psyedge popped out of his. He was very surprised that he was called out by something other than his trainer.

'Shall I fight Erica-sama?'

'Please do.' She nodded

"Use bite."

"Block it with your blade arm." The fire lion pounced onto psyedge and bit his sword arm, the valiant sword pokemon held his ground. "Now use psycho cut." Psedge's arm glowed and launched energy that knocked the fire lion off it.

"It seems that you've trained your pokemon effectively." He didn't want to, but Lysandre felt it necessary to complement his opponent. Probably to brighten her opinion of his actions.

"Well, I've had some great teachers along the way." Said Erica, putting a smile on her friend's faces.

"Regardless, you will lose this battle and I will unleash the weapon onto this world." he turned to his pokemon, awaiting orders.

"Use fire blast." The mane of the pokemon glowed brilliantly and it fired a giant kanji for fire at Psyedge.

"Use calm mind." Psyedge started to calm himself to boost his special attack and special defense. When the blast impacted him parts of the fire flew forward and hit near Erica, forcing her to shield herself.

The psychic-fighting type looked back at his trainer with a worried expression, only to met with a determined one. Erica was giving Pysedge the determination to keep pressing on.

"Charge in and defeat it with bite." The fire type charged forth.

"Use psycho cut again." The swordsmen charged on to take on the lion.

The two pokemon collided with each other. And while the attack seemed rather effective on both parts, both pokemon fainted. The force from both attacks knocked the two of them back.

Psyedge was knocked back into his trainer, with his psycho cutting arm meeting Erica's stomach. Luckily for her it was only a surface wound, but her pokemon didn't like it. The psychic pokemon tried to help mend the wound, but his trainer sent him back into the pokeball.

'Don't worry about me, just get some rest.' Spoke Erica through telepathy.

"My congratulations to you, I didn't think that you would make it this far." Said Lysandre as he pulled out his last pokeball. The blond struggled to get up, she knew that she would have to end this quickly.

Erica pulled out her pokeball and readied herself for this final bout.

Lysandre sent out his Gyarados that fought against Brett's Aegislash. Erica sent out her poison dragon, Dragulong.

"Were you hoping that you could poison my last choice to make the battle easier?" Asked Lysandre.

Erica grimaced as he saw right through her strategies. At this point she realized that he was taunting her it almost felt like he was taunting her ever since they met.

"Well, it won't matter." Lysandre pressed his ring and it started to glow, as did his Gyarados.

The leviathan burst out of the light, it now look more like a giant carp. But now its dorsal fins were larger and it had red scales along the side with a black and red belly. Gyarados had mega evolved, and it was a force to be reckoned with.

"Iron head." The mega evolved enemy charged forth and strongly impacted against the poison dragon type.

The power from that super boosted attack knocked out Dragulong.

"Dragulong!" Erica picked up her weakened pokemon despite her injury. He seemed disappointed that he couldn't defeat

"I'm counting on you." Whispered Erica into Jirai's pokeball.

Throwing out the pokeball, Erica attempted to take advantage of Jirai's speed. "Substitute!" Jirai replaced himself with a substitute to avoid damage.

"Iron head." The mega leviathan crashed itself into the fake.

"Now use smack down!" From afar Jirai launched a heavy rock onto gyarados. However the attack wasn't all that effective.

"Once again you tried to take advantage, only to fail. Gyarados is now a water-dark type." Revealed Lysandre. He had outsmarted Erica again and it made her angry.

"Damn it!"

"Use iron head." The leviathan instantly charged in and destroyed the fake. Erica was a little more than surprised by this, Jirai was now exposed. He was hiding on the upper wall.

"Thunder fang." Gyarados reared up and clamped down on the poor ninja. The raging pokemon thrashed about with Jirai in his mouth, he then launched the ninja into the femal teenager.

The blond heroine fell back against the floor with Jirai on top of her, the air was knocked out of her on impact. The starter pokemon tried to help Erica up. But she smiled and returned it to its pokeball.

"Thank you, but you've completely exhausted yourself." Said Erica as she got up.

Despite her efforts, both Keith and Brett were worried about her wound. The blond pulled out her last pokeball.

"We're gonna win, and give hope back to the world!" She launched Venus, her last pokemon.

Erica then reached her mega ring and activated it, forcing Venus to mega evolve.

"Use ice fang." Gyarados launched forward and attempted to take advantage of Venus's type. But the attack was nearly as effective because of Venus's thick fat ability.

"Counter with leech seed." Seeds were spread onto the enemy.

"Damn you, use iron head." Grunted Lysandre as his pokemon followed its orders.

"Venus take the hit." The venusaur took the hit and countered with body slam. The water-dark type was launched against the wall.

"You're only a fool, there is no such thing as an endless tomorrow! Use earthquake!"

"Yes there is, within people. Petal blizzard!" Suddenly Venus unleashed a great flurry of pink petals that surrounded and attacked the gyarados. The attack was successful in defeating the enemy.

...Congratulations, Trainer Erica Tamashii defeated Team Flare Lysandre. She breathed a sigh of relief and placed a hand on her racing heart before retrieving Venus.

"RAAAAHHHHH!" Lysandre took off is visor and threw it onto the ground, shattering it. He slumped over in defeat.

Erica recalled her pokemon and looked at Lysandre with longing eyes. Sure she was glad that she had won this battle, but she felt like she needed to help Lysandre see the right way.

"You know what? Even it there is only a little of something. It is best to share it." Erica's words shocked Lysandre.

"Whether it be food, power, or happiness, it is best to share it." She turned to Brett and Keith and gave a smile for approval. "Right?"

"Yeah."

"Couldn't have said it any better."

It seemed that Lysandre wasn't buying into that though. He faced them with an angry face, his goals had been stopped by a few teenagers.

"That can't be true. If it was, wars wouldn't have ever prolonged and people wouldn't be left out due to scarcity." He clenched his fists and looked back down to the ground.

"That it just one of the mistakes that comes with the human spirit." Said Brett standing up.

"Even if our souls are shrouded with darkness, some kind of light is still clinging." Stated Keith as he attempted to stand up.

Silence overtook the entire room, perhaps Lysandre was starting to take in those words. Even though he had been her enemy a few minutes ago, Erica was silently hoping that she could become friends with this man rather than fight with him.

"It may only be a little, but the weapon has enough for one shot." All three of the protagonists were equally shocked. Sounds of power surging echoed throughout the chamber.

"Behold, I will grant you immortality!" The room started to shake, the weapon was reading to fire. Lysandre stood up with his right fist in the air.

Erica decided to give up on Lysandre, she quickly helped her friends up to get out. And they started to run out of the room. As they escaped, Erica gave one silent wish that the man riddled with sorrow could find hope in unity.

From outside, the ultimate weapon charged up its energy to fire. It floated up as its claws began to rise up. The one shot burst out and into the air and the claws fell back to the ground.

The energy blast launched int the sky, and fell back down to the town. The very blast landed onto the weapon that launched it, destroying it in the process.

In the interior of the base, Erica was trying frantically to escape. But she was being held back by the fact that she was trying to help two injured guys. She herself was injured and being slowed down by her own body. The entire base was collapsing in on itself. Brett and Keith barely had any consciousness, leaving Erica to search for an exit. But as she looked around she could find none, only the collapsing debris around them.

"Guys, I'm sorry."

Ooh, who doesn't get annoyed by a little suspense? Anyways thanks for reading this chapter, hoped you liked it. If you did like it, you can leave a guest review or something. Normally you'd get a preview of what happens in the next chapter, but that would break the suspense.


	24. Chapter 24

Disclaimer: I do not own pokemon. If I did, Celebi would've been released to everybody in Gen 2. Neither do I own Fairy Tail.

"Speech"

'Thought'

Everything was dark, it was like a dark void of emptiness. Erica looked around to see if anything was around, but to find nothing.

"Hello?" Her voice echoed around the entire place.

A naked feeling spread across her head, the heroine reached up to feel for her hat but couldn't find it. She remembered that it had been lost in her previous battle. With that logic, she reached down to feel her stomach. Erica was braced to feel blood, but her wound wasn't there. She rubbed the side of her head in an attempt to figure out what was going on.

"All I can remember is the base collapsing, did we not make it out in time?" She asked to nobody in particular. A tear fell down her cheek at the thought of letting her friends die.

Erica looked around to see a bright light of blue, red, and yellow come down to where she was. It landed at Erica's feet and the image of herself as a child appeared, the image of her crying because she is alone. This thought always haunted Erica it was the being of her doubt, and that fear began to seep into her heart again.

Though in seconds, Erica could feel the urge to tackle this feeling. She had grown strong next to many people and pokemon. The teenager knelt down to the toddler and tapped her on the shoulder.

"People are so mean." Whined the toddler. That statement surprised Erica.

"They go away from me, they don't try to be nice to me." She looked up at her teenage self, hoping for an answer. "What do I do?"

The older version looked at her younger self with longing eyes. She had felt that feeling many times before. Yes, there were many people in this world who would try to act differently and sometimes offensively. Pokémon would follow the individual will of the different people, even if they were evil and selfish. The older blond wondered what would be the right choice to say, but her experience in her travels would give her the right answer.

Erica reached into her pocket and pulled out a handkerchief and wiped the younger version's face off. Just like in her dream before, her younger self didn't enjoy the feeling.

"Heh heh." They joined hands and Erica gave her past self a comforting smile.

"I don't think that, I think that people are just afraid of each other. They turn away from each other because they are afraid of being betrayed." The toddler didn't seem to register with that as she looked away.

"But what should I do?" Erica sighed, closed her eyes and remembered everything that she experienced on her journey.

"We need to keep being friends to people and pokemon."

Suddenly the darkness vanished. Replaced by a great view of valleys, lakes, and mountains. Erica gazed around to see it all, pokemon were here and there.

And off in the distance, Erica could see many of the people that she met along her journey, her mother, the gym leaders, Shauna, Tierno, Trevor, Professor Sycamore, Diantha, even Brett and Keith were there.

Both of the blond girls were surprised and happy at such a friendly sight. The teenager grabbed the hand of her younger self, who looked back with a curious face.

"These are the people that we can share our happiness with every day." The toddler blond smiled. Erica's doubt faded away, she wasn't afraid anymore.

Erica woke up to the sounds of pokemon chirping, and slight winds blowing by. She found herself laying on the ground of Geosenge town. Keith and Brett were also nearby, but they were unconscious. It was about the time for the sunrise of the next day. The trio had been fighting all night?

"What happened?" Erica tried to get up, but she was too injured. Looking around, she couldn't find the ultimate weapon.

Said weapon was nowhere to be found. Presumably, it was already destroyed by its own attack. A the feeling of something tight suddenly came to Erica, she reached down to find a poorly made tourniquet Erica looked around even more, and she found the mysterious man. He was staring at the wreckage that used to be the ultimate weapon.

"The weapon of mass destruction is no more." Whispered the man. Erica wanted to say something, but she couldn't bring herself to. She had been beaten so hard that she could barely stay conscious.

"But the flower pokemon is still nowhere to be found." He turned to face Erica, he tossed the stone that she found in Shalour city.

"I believe that is yours." She then realized that it must've been this man who had saved them and given Erica the tourniquet. In turn, the blond wanted to give her thanks. But he turned around to leave.

"Wait!" Even though her stomach hurt, the blond tried to the best of her ability to get that out. Luckily, the old man stopped.

"AZ, I know that you must be riddled with sorrow of what you did and what you lost. But can't you forgive yourself?" Asked Erica. She was trying to help this man with unity like her friends had helped her.

Several seconds passed with only the sounds of the wind and the pokemon. AZ turned around to face Erica again, she couldn't read his expression. His gray hair shook with his head turning.

"...I can't."

"Why not?" He solemnly turned back to face the direction of the sunrise. His fist closed at the feeling of a painful memory.

"My old friend hasn't found it to forgive me. I cannot bring myself to, unless she can." Erica understood his pain, the pain of solitude.

At this one moment the blond heroine was the only person in the world who could help this man. She mustered enough strength to stand up, despite the flaring pain in her stomach.

"But right now, you just saved three lives. Isn't that enough?" AZ's face looked up at hearing that, as if this girl's words had impacted him. But instead of answering, the old man silently walked away.

Erica was about to chase after him, but her injuries caught up with her again. A grassy ground soon met with her face. The protagonist started to black out, but she could faintly hear somebody calling her name.

The next thing she knew, Erica woke up on a hospital bed. Almost instantly, she could feel the bandages that were wrapped around her arms, and belly. Her right arm was hooked up to an IV. But this feeling of ease soon ceased a tight hug ensued.

"Oh Erica, I'm sooo glad that you are ok! I thought that you died!" Cried Shauna. The feeling of having the air forced out of you didn't feel so well, so the blond quickly got her friend off of her.

"Shauna? What happened?"

"Well, the weapon fired a bright blast, but it impacted on itself. We came as quickly as we could and found you laying near the wreckage." Erica was glad that they succeeded in stopping the ultimate weapon, but she was also curious.

"We?"

Suddenly Tierno and Trevor rushed in. They both seemed worried.

"Erica!"

"How are you feeling!?"

Erica was surprised by her friends' sudden burst. She tried to compose herself as best as she could. But in the end her hands waving about with a nervous smile was enough.

"Relax guys, I'm just fine." Erica decided that since they had helped to stop the crisis, that she could tell them about it. So, she spent the next few minutes explaining all that went down after Shauna left the Team Flare base. From how Keith and Brett fought against the legendaries to meeting with AZ. But then she realized that they weren't around.

"Wait a minute." Paused Erica. "Where are Brett and Keith?"

"Right here." She turned to see her two friends on beds next to her's. Both were just as injured as their blond friend if not worse.

"That was one heck of a battle." Commented Brett.

"I never knew that it would be that tough." Wheezed Keith.

Erica showed a relieved face, before it curved into a smile. She was glad that her two companions were ok.

Moments later, Professor Sycamore entered the room. He was very happy and satisfied with his students for stopping the crisis.

"Its good to see all of you again." Greeted the professor.

He walked over to where Erica was lying. His unshaven face was painted with concern.

"How are you feeling?"

"I'm ok, I should be able to leave after a day or so. But I don't think that I should battle." She turned to Keith and Brett. "And neither should those two."

Sycamore laughed at the comment Erica made. "Good luck with that."

"Oh yeah! Where are our pokemon?" Erica did pose an interesting question, they couldn't have been in the rubble because they were in the pokeballs. Sycamore quickly reassure her on that.

"Don't worry, they're all resting in my eco research chamber." He then took a look around the entire room at all the people he handed the pokedexes to. Sycamore was so proud of them, but his face seemed to portray grief.

"I must apologize to you all." That caught everybody off guard. Not even Brett nor Keith expected him to say that.

"What do you mean?" Asked Shauna.

"I always knew Lysandre was a man who sought out reformation." He walked over to the window and gazed to the outside streets of Lumiose.

"I just wish that I knew how far he was willing to go." He turned back to his pupils with serious eyes.

"I wished I could've stopped him before any of this." Erica could detect it, her professor wished for the same wish that she had for Lysandre. That he could find everything in unity.

Keith got out of bed and walked over to the professor. The glasses-wearing champion placed his hand on Sycamore's shoulder. Giving him reassurance that it wasn't his fault.

"But you didn't know, you couldn't have stopped him." Reassured Keith.

Erica got up out of the bed and carefully walked over to them she gave the same look of reassurance as her friend.

"Keith's right. As a friend, you just tried to support him, right?" Sycamore took those words in, and he gave a smile back to his pupil.

"Yes, you're right."

He walked out of the room. But before Sycamore left, he turned to his pupils with one last piece of advice.

"Good luck to you all." Those were his parting words as he left.

'I don't really need luck.' Erica looked around the room to all of her friends. 'I've got my friends.'

As the day wore on, Erica's friends all left one by one. By the time that night rolled over, the blond couldn't bring herself to fall asleep. She was so deep in thought about Lysandre and AZ. Both were like kings who tried to change the world because of the people in it. The blond had found herself wishing that those two could find what they needed in unity.

The next day our heroes checked out of the hospital. Soon after that, the three of them went to Sycamore to pick up their pokemon. With a day that couldn't involve any pokemon battles, the three protagonists would have to spend the entire day just enjoying the luxuries of the giant city.

For those who have forgotten, that would be nearly impossible for Brett.

"Not to be rude, but how do we know that you'll avoid battling?" Asked Erica as they exited the building.

"Relax, I called in the special forces this time." Whispered Keith.

Erica had absolutely no idea what special forces meant. But if it was something that could stop Brett from battling, it must be really powerful.

"I can't, Jasmine told me that I couldn't." Answered Brett, with a little bit of a sulky attitude.

Erica had regained her old look of question. Who was Jasmine? And how could she stop Brett? But since she had a day in the place with nearly every item available in the region, Erica couldn't really care.

The three split up and decided to head to different shopping places throughout Lumoise city.

Erica quickly visited the boutique, it was a famous boutique for both girls and guys. Upon entrance, Erica was nearly paralyzed by the items they had on sale.

But her hopes were about to be crushed.

"Excuse me, but you cannot shop in here." Said one of the store clerks.

"Nani?" A dark aura surrounded Erica, and a sadistic smile spread across her face (you know the one that Erza had when she couldn't get a date with Jellal? Something like that).

"We're sorry, but please come back when you are more stylish." The clerk pushed Erica out of the store. Erica was standing out on the street with the dark aura around her. Mothers were trying to keep their children away from her.

On the other side of town, Brett was in one of the cafes. People were talking about certain types pokemon, our hot-blooded protagonist couldn't help but hear it all.

"You know that none of that stuff is true." Pointed out Brett. It got him a lot of glares from the customers. He went back to drinking some juice and didn't pay any attention to the approaching group.

None of what was about to happen cannot be written down because it would be too graphic for a fanfiction that is rated T. So we'll shorten it by saying that Brett had to go back to the hospital.

In another corner of the bright city, Keith was analyzing a stone collection in a stone emporium. One of the employees noticed his mega ring.

"Excuse me sir, but are you looking for mega stones?" That question surprised our glasses wearing champion.

"Yes I am." Answered Keith calmly.

"Well how about I offer you some mega stones?" Asked the man as he held some out. And he now lost his calm.

"What really!?"

"Sure, how about we start at 50,000 poke?"

After the problems that sorted out with our three heroes, they each met back up a the center of the town. Erica still had that aura, Brett was covered in more bandages, and Keith was sulking. They each took a look at each other.

"I got kicked out of a boutique."

"I got attacked by angry nerds."

"I was conned."

Several seconds passed over as everyone took in each other's stories.

"...We don't fit in with normal people, do we?" Asked Erica.

"Nope."

"Never really have."

That night checked into one of the local hotels, since they now had enough money for one night (despite Keith getting conned). Erica laid down on the bed in the hotel room quietly. She took a few moments to think about what had all gone down.

'...Well, I guess that a student learns best from her teacher.'

She looked back and forth at her companions, who were sleeping in separate beds.

'Or teachers.'

Thanks for reading this chapter. Hoped you liked it, leave a guest review if you did. In the next chapter, Erica will continue her journey with her two companions into a battle with her professor.


	25. Chapter 25

Disclaimer: I don't own pokemon. If I did...actually I got nothing this time.

"Speech"

'Thought'

_'Written text'_

In the last chapter Erica had been taken back to Lumiose after surviving the battle against Team Flare. But that was the last chapter and this is a new one. Now she will continue her journey to become a stronger pokemon trainer.

Rays of sunlight penetrated the windows and woke up Erica in the luxury hotel room. Standing up and yawning, she found that the room was devoid of her two companions.

"Where are those two?" She asked to no one in particular. Her first thought would be that maybe the two went to battle somewhere, considering that they were now well enough for it.

Erica got up out of the bed and looked around. She found a note on Keith's bed, and one on Brett's. She picked up the one from Brett first.

_'Sorry, but we need to catch up on gym badges and you were sleeping in too late.'_ Erica looked at her holocaster to see that it was 10:12 am. A slightly upset expression spread across her face.

"That's not too late." She went over to Keith's bed. He might side with her.

_'I kind of have to agree with Brett.'_ Erica sighed in defeat.

Getting dressed, she went downstairs to get some breakfast. As she was eating a crepe, she realized something important. She had become a lot more capable of herself than when she first met them.

'If this was back when I first met them, I'd've been scared that they left me.' She gave a smile. 'I guess I'm a lot more independent.'

In Anistar city Keith was further investigating the giant crystal on the dock. He found that the material that it was made of was very rare. If not, the last one of its kind. Brett walked up to meet with his friend.

"She wasn't that much of a challenge." Bragged the black haired champion.

"And she predicted that you'd say that." Brett's spine chilled at the thought of somebody predicting his future.

It was then that the silhouette of a bird flying over caught their attention. Looking up, they were met with the sight of Erica flying in on her Talonflame. Upon landing she returned her pokemon and ran up to meet with the champions. She now bore a hat that was the same color as the one she lost in the Team Flare base.

"I'd say that it's nice to see you two again." Commented Erica.

"Ah Erica, good morning to you." Greeted Keith as he didn't take his eyes off the giant rock. The protagonist walked over and tapped him on the shoulder to gain more attention.

Keith turned around to meet with Erica's passive expression and her holocaster that showed the time to be 12:17 pm. He had a sweatdrop in the face of his younger friend.

"Ok, I guess it's not morning anymore." Admitted the analytical champion nervously. After a about thirty minutes, Erica and Brett convinced Keith to move away from the giant pink crystal.

They exited the city and headed into the next route. It didn't seem as chilly as some of the past routes that they had visited were, but it wasn't exactly sunshine and warmth either.

"Why is it that it keeps getting colder?" Complained Erica as put on her red trench coat.

"Now that you mention it, that does seem to be a pattern." Said Brett while he cupped his chin thinking about the other regions.

Keith and Erica chose to dismiss that fact, despite how coincidental it was. They continued walking through the chilly route, encountering many trainers along the way. Because of her experience, the blond trainer seemed to have little to no trouble with them.

Erica was walking along the route when a bush began to shake. Turning immediately she tried to figure out where the sound was coming from, but it had stopped. She just shrugged it off and continued walking, but the bush shook again.

"Hey do you guys-" Suddenly a pokemon jumped out of the bush at her and latched itself to her leg.

It was the iron ant, Durant. They are known for their raging attacks. And of course, Erica was panicking. Keith was about to help, but he wanted to see if Erica could tactically get it off with her pokemon's help.

"What is this thing!?" Screamed the blond. Instead of reaching for her pokeball, Erica grabbed the Durant and launched it away from them. Cue funny plot action from the champions.

"Erica used seismic toss!"

"Its super effective!"

Irritated, Erica turned back to her friends with an exhausted face. "You two are not commentators. And I'm not a pokemon."

Despite their friend's anger, Brett and Keith moved on anyways. The blonde protagonist gave back her look of irritation.

As the three ventured forward, they came upon what looked like an abandoned mine shaft. Keith curiously walked up to the door and pressed his hand against the large wooden gate.

Erica curiously approached to get a better idea of what he was doing.

"What exactly are you doing?" Asked the blonde. In response Keith snapped out of his daze and tried to give a reassuring face. But his face was a little nervous.

"It's nothing, I just got curious." He turned to the next town and continued towards it.

Erica didn't buy into that explanation as a tinge of worry welled inside her. She turned towards Brett, hoping for an answer. He caught on to her suspicion and just shrugged his shoulders.

"Beats me. He has always sort of had the ability to sense odd things." Explained the black-haired champion.

'I guess that everyone has there own strange talents.'

She and Brett soon caught up to their friend. The three soon entered the small town of Couriway. Not much to this town. The only two attractions were the old railway and the waterfalls.

Quickly looking about, Brett noticed that there was no gym in the area. He turned to Keith who shook his head. The hot-blooded protagonist turned to Erica with a desperate face.

"Come on, you must know that you'd find it before me." She also shook her head in response.

"But what about that time in Courmarine city?" Erica was about to retort, but he was right about that. She took a few moments to look around, then looking at a nearby sign revealed that this town indeed had no gym.

"Hey, there you three are." They turned around to see their good professor, Sycamore. From his words, they could guess that he was looking for them.

"I should've known that you'd three would be here really soon." Admitted the professor, confirming the previous assumption. He walked over to the blond trainer and held out a pokeball. She thought it might be a present, but apparently the professor had something else in mind.

"If you don't mind, I'd like to battle you." That request shocked all three of them, especially the one he was challenging.

"Well I guess it can't hurt, but why?" Asked the blonde.

"I'd like to see first hand just how good you've become." Answered the professor as he tossed the pokeball up. That was a good enough answer for Erica as she stepped away to give some distance.

Brett and Keith also took some steps away so that Erica could properly focus on the battle. The first sent out by Sycamore was his venusaur. Erica decided to send out Laxus, despite electricity not being able to do much damage against grass types.

"Venusaur, use double edge." The giant dinosaur rammed itself into the Ampharos. The damage was great, but it also left the grass starter with recoil. The female blond decided to put up some defense.

"Alright Laxus use cotton guard." The use of cotton guard allowed the defense of the electric type to skyrocket.

"Now use power gem." Laxus released electric currents into the ground which picked out stones that rammed against Venusaur.

"Use your petal blizzard." The grass dinosaur shook its giant feather and brewed up a giant storm that quickly approached Laxus. But Erica anticipated this and came up with a quick strategy.

"Use electro ball and levitate off the ground." The electricity formed in Laxus's head and tail. He allowed the electricity to formed around his body and pushed him against gravity and avoid the incoming attack.

After the avoiding the petal blizzard, the electric type flew down and impacted against Venusaur. Knocking him out in the process, leaving the professor with the only choice of retrieving his pokemon.

"I can see that you've gotten stronger." He recalled his defeated pokemon and sent out his next choice. The flying-fire starter, Charizard.

"Now Charizard use flamethrower." The psuedo dragon blew fire towards the Ampharos.

"And use flare blitz." Charizard charged forth and impacted hard against the poor electric giraffe.

Erica recalled her pokemon and reached for her next choice, her loyal Psyedge.

'Shall I slay this foe?' That request caught his trainer off guard.

'Uh...no just defeat them.'

'Very well, Erica-sama.' She thought that maybe the psychic-fighting type might be a little reluctant to fight for her again because of the battle against Lysandre. But he seemed to be pretty confident in his abilities. A happy expression painted Erica's face.

"What are you so happy about?" Asked Sycamore.

"I'm just happy to have such great friends and pokemon." Answered the blond as she looked towards her partner. Sycamore also smiled as he was happy to hear this for his pupil.

"Charizard, take to the sky." The pseudo dragon flapped its giant wings as it took off into the sky.

"Use psycho cut." Psyedge drew up energy in his arm and flung it towards the fire-flying type.

"Now, use aerial ace." Charizard flew down and struck the psychic-fighting type. Utilizing the type advantage of flying against fighting.

"Counter with psychic." Psyedge launched a wave of energy. The Charizard was defeated.

Sycamore recalled and sent out his final pokemon, blastoise. Erica also took this chance to withdraw her pokemon, and sent out Dragulong.

"Blastsoise, use ice beam." Sycamore was taking this chance to abuse type advantage, again.

"Counter with sludge bomb." The two attacks collided and created an explosion.

"Now use your poison tail!" The rotten seaweed dragon swiftly slammed his tail against the giant turtle.

"Take the hit and counter with your ice beam again." The giant turtle tried to fire again, but something held it back. Dragulong's poison was setting in to inhibit the Blastoise.

"What?" The professor was caught off guard as he didn't notice it before.

"Hit it one last time with dragon pulse." Dragulong fired the finishing attack. Apparently, the poison dragon's tail attack from earlier had left a toxic mark.

Sycamore retrieved his pokemon and laughed. Erica retrieved her pokemon and walked over to the unshaven man.

"I can't compete with you guys." Laughed the professor nervously.

"I guess there are just some things that others can not do good in." Commented Brett, and Erica was a little surprised at the fact that he was not talking about the battle.

Sycamore placed a hand on Erica's shoulder, gaining her attention. "I'm proud of how far you've come since the start of your journey. I hope that you can go even further. I have let something in this town that I would like you to find."

The professor turned and left the town. Although the blond was curious about the thing that Sycamore was talking about, she was more concerned for her pokemon. With that in mind Erica went to the pokemon center to get her friends healed.

Whilst she did that, Brett decided to take a look at what the railroad station was like. Low-and-behold, it was pretty boring without a working train. Without much to do the black-haired protagonist decided to leave, but as he was getting read to leave, he caught sight of some scribbling on the side of a bench. He walked over to take a look at it and was interested in what he found.

"Well, isn't that something?" He decided to take it back to get Erica to take a look at it.

In the center, Erica was reading a pop culture magazine that was talking about a man named Lance from a region called Johto. She wondered if Brett had met with this man. And speak of the Giratina, he comes the champion.

"Hey Erica I need you to do a favor."

"Ok, I'm listening."

"Just go up to the train station and read whatever you find." She decided to oblige, it wasn't like she had anything better to do. As she left though, the blond couldn't help but notice that Brett seemed a little excited.

Up on the train station platform, Erica couldn't find much to read. There were a few signs, and a time chart that was much outdated. Walking past one of the seats, she noticed the same writing that her friend had noticed earlier. She knelt down to read it.

_'To the_ _person reading this: What are you like now? Did you become who you wanted to be? For starters, what was the person you wanted to become even like? I don't know, but it would be wonderful if you can boast that you're living each day to its fullest.'_

After reading that message, she was a little surprised at how it related to her adventure. She was even more surprised at how she looked to who had wrote it, and who it was addressed to. From Sycamore dreaming of the future, to the Sycamore of the future (aka current Sycamore).

A happy smile painted across Erica Tamashii's face as she realized that Professor Sycamore wanted her to read this message. A happy tear fell down her left cheek as she realized how she had become a strong trainer with her friends and pokemon. Happy because of what she had become.

After her pokemon were healed up, Erica regrouped with Brett and Keith and decided to make it to the next city before it got dark. It would be too cold to camp and there was still daylight to use. The next route over was a particularly wet one. Not as cold as the last route, but definitely wetter.

"An entire marsh?" Erica looked down towards the lower sections of the route.

"There is definitely some kind of pattern in how we go through the regions." Noted Keith.

Looking around, the three quickly found a bridge that they could use to cross. Once they started walking on it, Erica thought that she could hear voices.

"Wait up!" The blonde protagonist turned around to notice Shauna catching up to them. But she didn't anticipate that she would be knocked down by her friend, and into the nearby marsh.

"Was that Shauna?" Asked Brett.

"Yeah, but should we help them?" Answered Keith.

So after being hauled out of the marsh, getting a quick blow dry, and walking back up to the bridge, Shauna apologized to her friend for the accident. She was just lucky that Erica had already experienced this before.

"Again, I'm really sorry for that." Apologized Shauna for the third time. Erica just waved it off.

"Oh don't worry, I've already been through it before." She was referencing her time when she fell into the marsh and had to get new clothes entirely. Suddenly Shauna held out a pokeball and this time, Erica understood what that meant.

"Erica, I know that this is a little sudden, but battle me."

Thank you for reading this chapter, hoped you liked it. If you did, please leave a guest review. As the ending suggests, in the next chapter Erica will battle against her friends.


	26. Chapter 26

Disclaimer: I do not own pokemon. And if we are being honest here, I would much rather own Yu-Gi-Oh. Which is also not in my possession.

"Speech"

'Thought'

Even though she knew she was strong, Erica was still surprised at all the battle requests that she was getting today. Especially since they were from her professor and her friend. But she had to ask Shauna again to make sure that her hearing was right.

"What?"

"I'd like a battle with you." Answered Shauna.

Erica was a little baffled by this. She had only battled with her friend on a few occasions, and won in all of them. She turned around to her companions for some advice on this, they both just shrugged their shoulders in response. So the only thing stopping her was if Shauna was definite in this decision.

"Are you sure?"

"Positive." Shauna seemed really confident in herself. "And if it is alright, I'd prefer if we did a three-on-three. I only have three pokemon with me." She rubbed the back of her head with a blush.

Erica was reluctant, but she caved in and pulled out her pokeball. They walked off of the bridge to make the battle easier for both of them. And Erica readied her pokeball. Throwing it, she sent out Venus. Shauna reached into her bag and sent it out her Delphox. The blond was caught off guard as she realized that her friend had the upper advantage.

'Crap, she's utilizing type advantage.'

"Kinnekins, use mystical fire." The psychic fox drew fire in the air with its stick and launched it. Venus took the hit but it left a bit of a sting because of fire beating grass.

Erica reached over to her mega ring, but she quickly stopped. Sure, her petite friend was strong, but would she really be able to compete with the power of a mega-evolved pokemon? Instead of that, the blond decided to retrieve her Venusaur.

"Venus, return." Erica returned her pokemon and sent out Jirai.

"Kinnekins, use light screen." The Delphox made use of its twin sticks and formed a strong barrier from which it would be able to slow down Jirai's attacks. Shauna had improved a bit more than Erica realized.

"Use double team." Jirai used the classical ninja technique of cloning.

"Now dark pulse." Jirai charged up the energy around itself and released it to towards the fox.

Delphox couldn't attack again because it flinched from the dark pulse attack, giving an opportunity for the ninja frog (that is in no relation to Dororo) to strike.

"Finish it with water shuriken!" Jirai launched his signature attack that defeated Delphox. A little reassurance spread throughout Erica at that victory, but she still couldn't help but wonder why Shauna didn't try to exchange her pokemon for some type advantage.

Shauna retrieved her defeated pokemon with a seemingly disappointed face, she then threw out her second pokemon, Sylveon. Keith flinched upon sight of the pokemon, even he was still a little unsure of the capabilities of the fairy type.

"Jirai, use your water shuriken." The ninja frog repeated its previous attack, but it wasn't as effective this time. The attack only hit a few times, and the general damage was weakened. Apparently the light screen was still active.

"You've gotten really good huh?" The petite girl nodded in response, happy that her strong friend recognized her bonds with pokemon.

"Use baby-doll eyes." The fairy pokemon used its adorable eyes as a distraction to lower attack.

"Jirai, repeat double team." The dark-water type attempted its previous tatic.

"Quick, use moonblast!" Sylveon launched a ball of magic energy that impacted hard against the stomach of the Greninja. He was knocked over the Cliffside, resulting in his trainer retrieving him before he hit the water.

"Oh, sorry about that." Apologized Shauna, her Sylveon also seemed a little sorry about that. But the blond teenager just shook her head in denial.

"Don't worry, we've been in worse fights." Confidence was beaming off of this trainer.

Keith was impressed in his friend's ability to hold her own, but he was still a little surprised at what he had just learned. He noticed that the fairy type had landed a critical hit, and it withstood the attack of the water shuriken even more than a light screen could allow. Clearly it had some kind of unique trait.

Erica retrieved her pokemon and sent out a different choice, Dragulong.

"Dragulong, try using sludge bomb." The dragon agreed with and followed its trainer's plan. When the giant poison ball hit, it defeated Sylveon.

The pig tailed girl returned her pokemon and pulled out her final pokeball. Shauna smiled a very happy grin. "I'm really glad that I got the chance to do this."

She threw out the sludge dragon (literally, its body is dripping with sludge) Goodra. Erica wanted to recall her pokemon, but she also wanted to show Shauna just how good she was. Yep folks, its a rotten seaweed dragon versus a dripping sludge dragon.

"Goodra, use your power up punch." The ears of the sludge dragon reared forward and punched fast.

"Dragulong, use your dragon tail." The Dragalge reared its tail up to hit the Goodra-

"Catch it." Goodra's ears caught the tail before it could hit his head. Erica cursed her luck as she decided to withdraw her pokemon for a more sturdier one. She sent Venus back out to rumble.

"Goodra, use your dragon pulse." the sludge dragon shot a beam of dragonic energy at the Venusaur.

The attack impacted, and Venus stood against the hit.

"Use double edge!" The grass dinosaur impacted against the sludge dragon, but it didn't succeed in enough damage. The teeth in Erica's mouth were gritting as she stormed to come up with a strategy. The face of the petite girl suddenly grew upset, and her friend caught onto it.

"Come on Erica, I know that you can do better than that!" Everyone was surprised at Shauna's sudden outburst. "We are not going to be afraid if you mega evolve your partner." Her sludge dragon nodded with her.

That demand really hit hard with the blond as she never expected that out of her friend. But with that shout, she understood why Shauna didn't pull back her Delphox earlier. She wanted to test the limits of her bonds with her pokemon. With a flick of her hand over her mega ring, the Venusaur started to shine and mega evolve.

"Venus, use petal blizzard." The giant grass type launched a fury of leaves. The damage was significant because of the same type bonus in the attack.

"Goodra use poison tail." Goodra obeyed and slammed against its opponent with a great force of the tail. Venus was barely left standing.

"Now finish it with outrage." Goodra was about to win. It suddenly stopped, both Shauna and her pokemon were surprised.

Some leech seeds were surrounding its legs and draining the pokemon's energy.

"Finish with petal blizzard." A lot of little flower petals stormed around the sludge dragon and defeated it. Shauna sighed disappointingly and retrieved her defeated pokemon.

Erica petted her pokemon and retrieved it. Shauna walked forward and congratulated her friend.

"That was amazing, but how did you pull off that last trick?"

"I had Venus launch the seeds as she mega evolved." Explained Erica.

"Wow, no wonder you're so good at this." Commented the pig-tailed girl.

Suddenly Trevor and Tierno walked into the picture and greeted their friend. Tierno walked up to her first.

"Erica, I know that this is sudden, but I challenge you to a battle."

"Really?" It seemed that today, the female protagonist was very popular as a subject of challenge.

"Yeah, I'd like to see how strong you really are." He held out a pokeball and tried to strike a pose. Brett walked forward to Erica.

"I'll heal up your pokemon first." Offered the hot-blooded champion.

"No, I think that I'll see what my limits are." Said Erica with a confident smile.

Brett reflected that smile and patted his friend on the head. He walked back to the spectators to see her limits too.

Erica decided to send out Psyedge first. Tierno sent out the water-dark crab, Crawdaunt. The blond immediately went for type advantage.

"Psyedge use power-up-punch."

"Crawdaunt, use sword dance." Tierno made a big mistake and didn't try to attack or defend.

"Uh, alright. Psyedge hit him with another power-up-punch." The psychic-fighting type punched the dark-water type in the gut, effectively defeating it.

Tierno exchanged his fallen crawdaunt for the next pokemon available. Roserade, a grass poison type with flowers on its hands and head.

"Roserade, use poison powder." The pokemon danced around and dispersed powder that weakened the Gallade.

"Psyedge, go ahead and use psycho cut." Psyedge deployed the psychic energy from its arm towards the plant type defeating it in the process, critical hit.

Tierno retrieved the Roserade and pulled out a familiar pokemon. It would be a lie if it was said that the blond wasn't surprised at the appearance of this pokemon.

"Talonflame?" The fire-flying type that Erica was use to was out to fight. Erica took this opportunity to bring Dragulong back.

"Talonflame, use flame charge." The phoenix-like pokemon charged forth and impacted against the poison type.

"Counter with your dragon pulse." Dragulong released the dragonic blast unto its target and succeeded in dealing damage.

"Counter with flamethrower." Fire spewed out of the bird's mouth.

"Hydro pump!" Dragulong launched a jet-stream of water that countered against the fire type, winning the battle.

Tierno retrieved his pokemon and congratulated his friend.

"Thanks Erica, watching you pursue in your strengths has inspired me to keep trying hard." He turned over to Trevor.

"You wanna give it a try?" Erica turned to her afro friend. She was eager, but halted that once she noticed the reluctance that was featured on Trevor's face.

"Erica...I really would like to battle you, but I don't think I'd be that good." Admitted the young boy with some embarrassment.

Erica walked over to him and put her hand on her shoulder with comfort. "Thats alright, you don't have to force yourself into something if you don't want to."

She displayed a smile of reassurance. It surprised him that she told him not to fight if he didn't want to. He knew that Erica was his supportive friend, but the afro boy expected a battle of some sort. Keith decided to weigh in on this since the boy reminded him of himself.

"You should pursue your own dreams and not let anyone steal them from you." He lectured Trevor like a master to his student. Trevor showed surprise from the support he was getting.

"Alright...thats what I'll do then." He smiled and gave a confident pose.

He ran off. Tierno faced back to his friends. "I'll be going off too, gotta fulfill my dream." He walked towards the previous city.

Shauna looked off the side of the bridge towards the west. "You know, I came on this journey to find my dream to follow through. I'm not really sure what it is. Be it adventuring or something else." Erica walked over to her friend.

"I think that what ever it is that you're searching for, it'll come to you somehow." Reassured the blonde protagonist.

Shauna gave her friend a glad smile. "Yeah, thanks Erica." She looked over to Brett and Keith. "You guys too." And she also left to somewhere else. To continue on finding her dream.

Erica turned to face her friends again. Keith turned around to continue towards the next city. But Brett tapped on Erica's shoulder, he felt like she deserved some kind of interesting information.

"You wanna hear something crazy about Keith?" Erica couldn't really resist the gossip.

"Sure."

"He was bullied a lot as a kid, and to prove to the rest that he was something amazing, he captured nearly every single possible pokemon in existence." Erica was gawking at such a thought.

For those who don't know, there are roughly 700 different species of pokemon, excluding all the different form changes. And while it seems that it is easy from a novice's point of view, it most certainly isn't.

"You shouldn't go around talking about things like that so casually." She slapped him on the arm. But Brett just shrugged his shoulders and walked off.

After that, a blush ran across Erica's face as she realized that she was really treating him like she was his younger sister in some kind of anime.

The trio then entered the next city, Snowbelle city. And as the name would imply there was plenty of snow falling down. Erica was shivering despite the fact that she was wearing a trench coat. But Erica suspected that her companions were in their regular outfits.

However they were wearing coats. And Erica's jaw dropped to the ground. Both of the champions caught on to her surprise.

"Something wrong?" Asked Keith.

"No, nothing at all." She was sulking. It seemed that nobody could really read their movements.

They decided to view around the place and see what the city had to offer. Erica quickly found there to be a boutique, she grabbed Brett's arm and dragged him to the store.

"What are you doing?"

"I think that we should find you a new look." This was all part of her plan to find out a little about his past.

"Keith help me!" It didn't seem fitting for such a person to be crying for help.

The brown haired boy was about to assist his friend. But as he was about to give chase, he found that something was calling to him.

Keith looked around to see if anyone was calling to him. But nobody was really beckoning to him, and it seemed like the call was psychic. Keith looked in the direction of the nearby forest.

'This feeling...'

Thanks for reading this chapter, hoped you liked it. If you did like it or have any opinions you want to share, feel free to leave a guest review. In the next chapter, Keith wanders into the forest to find an old friend, and Erica learns just a little bit more about Brett.


	27. Chapter 27

Disclaimer: We've already discussed this, I do not own pokemon. And I also don't own Digimon. That wasn't really important, I just thought I should point it out.

"Speech"

'Thought'

Keith walked towards the forest that neighbored the city of Snowbelle. Said forest was called Winding Woods, meaning that travelers could get lost very easily. But then again, most travelers weren't like Keith.

"This place reminds me a lot of Eterna forest. I wonder if there is a haunted house anywhere around here?" Asked Keith as he walked around. And now that he mentions it, that would be a nice touch.

Back in the boutique of Snowbelle city Brett was facing his version of torture. Being forcibly dragged into a boutique by one of his friends and being forced to try on multiple clothes.

"Erica, how could you do this to me?" Whined Brett like some kind of housewife in a drama television show.

"Relax, so maybe the jacket doesn't look good on you."

At the moment, Brett couldn't bust out of the place because Erica had all of his pokemon. Basically, he was stuck till she got what she wanted. Judging by the fact that her friend was glancing at almost everything, she could guess that he was about to collapse.

'Just a little longer.' Thought Erica. She picked out a red messenger bag.

"I think this fits into your swag."

"Fine! We released Yveltal and Xerneas back to the wild yesterday, are you happy!?" Screamed the black-haired protagonist. She sighed and put her hands at her hips in response.

"No...wait, you what?"

Instead of answering Brett faked a heart attack and a seizure on the ground. Erica tried to calm him down as they were starting to get some strange looks from the other customers. Suddenly the blond was regretting taking her friend to the store.

"Um, is he ok?" Asked one of the store clerks.

"If we're being honest, I'm not sure." Answered Erica.

"I'm not ok, I'm very claustrophobic." Said the trainer who was now spinning on the floor.

"But there's ten feet between you and the walls." Retorted the clerk. Brett just continued spazzing out.

"Gah leg muscle spasm!" He then dashed out the door, forcing Erica to give chase after him.

Back in Winding Woods, Keith was aimlessly walking around. As he continued walking around, he noticed something interesting. Some of the trees began to move without any wind blowing by. The analytical champion reached down and picked up a stone.

"Reveal yourself!" He launched a stone at one of them. The tree that he hit suddenly appeared agitated, and it somehow turned around. The 'tree' apparently had arms, and a red eye. Truthfully, it was actually the ghost-grass type, Trevenant.

Putting aside the fact that he felt like he was in some kind of horror film, Keith was trying to analyze why this pokemon was hiding from him. A quick question might give him the answer.

"I'm sorry for that, but why were you hiding from me?" Expecting an answer, he approached closer to the tree pokemon. And then suddenly, there wasn't just one moving tree. Multiple Trevenants had followed him, and now cornered the champion.

Keith was about to rationalize with them till he could feel an odd sensation. These pokemon were probing his thoughts. In agony he grasped his head as he was forced to feel the memories as well. Some that were great, others that hurt. Luckily for him, the pain died away quickly.

The ghost trees suddenly bore smiles, as best as they could, and left him to be.

A exterior psychic feeling suddenly came into his mind. Giving him a internal sense of direction of which way to go. Without having any other information, the champion followed the sense.

He was lead to a place littered with flowers. Though it was near a snowing city, the sunlight was really bright. Keith took off his trench coat at the increased temperature.

"What is the place?" Upon entry, Keith met a man who was big and wearing a white shirt and a large blue coat in the form of a cape. He had white hair and a mustache-beard combo.

"You there! What do you think you're doing here!?" His yelling surprised Keith.

"Intrigue is tempting." Answered Keith as regained his composure. The man rubbed his beard, almost understanding what Keith was talking about.

"Tell me, what region are you from?"

"I'm from Kanto." Then man walked over to Keith as if inspecting him.

"Do you have any proof?" Keith held out a medallion that had a myriad of colors on it.

"This should be more than enough proof." The man backed away in surprise.

"I-I see, so you're the Champion of Kanto?" My name is Wulfric, I am the local gym leader." He turned around to the field. "Hey you can come out now, this one's good!"

Several pokemon came out of the tall grass patches. Keith kneeled down to pet a nearby Furfrou. He could immediately guess that this place was for abandoned pokemon.

"These pokemon all came from abusing trainers. They make a great home out of this place." Keith looked closer to examine some wounds that weren't inflicted by battle. He could feel some sympathy for them.

"I should tell you that you'll have some challenges soon." Warned Keith, Wulfric walked out of the village.

"I look forward to them then." Answered the gym leader as he left the village.

Keith walked further into the village, interacting with some of the pokemon. As he ventured further, he came upon a cave. For some reason he expected there to be an ace trainer guarding it.

"Could it be..."

'Yes it is.' Responded a voice in Keith's head. His curiosity forced him to walk into the cave and was greeted with a familiar sight.

Back in Snowbelle city. Erica was trying to find out where Brett was hiding. Because she had his pokemon, there was absolutely no way he could get too terribly far away from this city. She came upon a boy and girl that looked like they were from some college.

"Excuse me." Pardoned Erica as she gained their attention. "Have you seen a guy run pretty fast around here?" They both shook their heads, Erica put her hand above her head.

"He is about this tall and black hair." Described Erica, and the guy snapped his fingers in response.

"I think I saw a guy like that run in that direction a little earlier." Erica gave a quick thanks as she ran in the direction. The guy was suddenly hit in the head with a snowball.

"You've gotta try better than that Josh." He scooped a snow ball in retaliation.

"Lets see you do better, Amber." Ah what a natural snow ball fight for college students.

The skilled blond trainer continued in the same direction that Josh had pointed towards. As she continued in the same direction, she found no sign of her reckless friend. Not even any footprints anywhere. Her long trek even led her towards the edge of the city, so the next course of action was to retrace her steps.

"Now where could he be?" As she kept retracing, she came upon a snowman. Curiosity and deviousness spread across her face.

"Oh well, I guess that we should challenge the gym without Brett." Said the blond in a passive way and started to walk away.

"I'm not that stupid." Mumbled the snowman. Erica smirked deviously.

After a few minutes of argument she convinced him to come out of the snowman and into the pokemon center so he wouldn't get sick. It is amazing how stubborn hot-blooded protagonists are, it's just a good thing that Erica isn't one of them.

"Why did you put me through that?" Whined Brett.

"Sorry, I just wanted to see if there was anything that you could tell me about your past." Apologized Erica as she gave him a cup of warm tea. In return he gave a look of surprise.

"Well, to be honest I don't remember anything past my eighth year." Admitted Brett.

Now it was Erica turn to be surprised. While it sounded key for some kind of anime, she couldn't help but feel sorry for her friend. She felt another question forming inside her head.

'Does that mean that he travels to find clues about his past?' Thinking in such a manner didn't help to sooth her worry.

"Now it's your turn." Erica was snapped out of her thoughts.

"What?"

"I think you should tell me about your past." Explained the black-haired teen as he leaned a little closer.

Back at the pokemon village Keith approached a being that he had met before.

"Nice to see you again, Mewtwo." Greeted Keith.

Said pokemon turned to face him. It seemed that the legendary had known Keith. More than that, it lead him here with that psychic sensation.

"Why is it that you're always so young?" Joked Keith.

'You just age too fast.' Said the legendary pokemon. Keith couldn't help but laugh a little at that answer.

'Tell me, what brings you to this region?'

"What else? To simply become better." Answered Keith.

'Are you sure that its not to capture me again?' The glasses wearing champion laughed again, he could somehow read through this being's seriousness.

Keith put his hands up, but he still had a humorous look on his face. "Relax. Brett might be here, but he has not intention of catching any legendary. We even released a couple the other day."

Mewtwo faced away from his old friend, it appeared that something else was still bothering it. Keith caught on to this interesting doubt and decided to dig into it.

'You have another companion with you.' Stated the legendary pokemon.

"If you're talking about Erica, then I can guarantee that she wont try to use you for anything." Promised Keith. He always knew that Mewtwo didn't trust humans too well.

Mewtwo gave a disbelieving look anyways, despite his friend's assurance. The genetic pokemon turned to face him.

'How can you confirm that?'

"Just read my mind."

The friendly conversation had become a stare off between a legendary pokemon and a legendary trainer.

A little while later, it was starting to become dusk. Erica and Brett waited at the pokemon center for their friend to return. Brett was being patient as it was, but Erica was still embarrassed at what she had to tell him earlier.

"Brett, let me make it clear that you can never tell anyone about that." Demanded Erica with a red face.

"Relax, so you had a-" He didn't get to finish as she pushed him into the ground. A shade of crimson deepened on the blond's face.

"What did I tell you?"

Soon after, Keith entered the pokemon center. He wasn't really surprised by the sight of his rival on the ground and his younger friend with an embarrassed face.

"I'm not going to explain." Said Erica, she then pointed to Brett on the ground. "And if he tries, I'll just get Venus to attack him."

Keith looked at the scene with an unsurprised face. "Yeah, I kinda guessed that already. Just for your information, the gym leader is now available for match." The other two trainers perked up at hearing that.

He walked past them anyways. "I'll go later, go without me."

Brett and Erica went into the gym to challenge the final gym leader of the region. And it seemed that it was absolutely massive on the inside of the building.

"It's alien technology right?" Joked Erica as she elbowed Brett.

"No this one is just underground." She fell to the ground on her butt.

After getting back on her feet, Erica made the first steps to her last gym battle in Kalos.

Thanks for reading this chapter, I hoped you liked it. If you did like it, feel free to leave your opinion in a guest review. Apologies that this chapter didn't focus as much on Erica as it did on Brett and Keith. But in the next chapter will be all about her battle against Wulfric.


	28. Chapter 28

Disclaimer: I don't own pokemon. If I did, Dunsparce wouldn't be so big. Seriously, have you seen the size of that guy? It's unreal!

"Speech"

'Thought'

Erica entered the ice gym. She found this one to be the biggest puzzle (physically) out of any gym that she had come across yet. Brett was about to walk forward to challenge the gym leader, but his friend put her hand on his shoulder to stop him.

"What?"

"I wanna go first." Whined Erica, but it didn't seem that he was giving into her demands at the moment. She then puffed up her eyes like some kind of anime chibi, and then Brett caved in.

But instead of just simply letting her go ahead of him, he held out his fist.

"How about Rock Paper Scissors Lizard Spok?" Erica knew that she wasn't going to get it much better than this, so she responded with her own fist.

Rock...

Paper...

Scissor...

Lizard...

Spok!

Erica's hand was a Paper, and Brett's was a Spok. Paper disproves Spok, Erica wins. Brett reluctantly slouched over and walked towards the gate to wait there. Putting aside the fact that the gym somehow resembled a colony from Gundam UC, it appeared as one massive puzzle. Pressing the tiles behind each trainer would shift the angle of the next floor.

"Ok, how hard can it be?" Said Erica to nobody in particular.

Back in the cave of Pokémon Village, Mewtwo had pressed a giant rock in the entrance so that nobody would bother it. Floating in the air, it appeared in some position of meditation. Truthfully though, it was watching Erica's upcoming battle from afar with its psychic abilities.

'Let me see if you are really as good as Keith says you are.'

It took her some time, but the blonde did successfully reach the end of the puzzle. She was prepared for the sight of the gym leader waiting patiently awaiting her arrival. But instead she got the sight of Wulfric napping on a chair of ice blocks.

'I wasn't that long.' She looked back, hoping to see her friend patiently waiting. But got nothing else than the sight of her friend leaning against the wall, sleeping.

"One of these days." She pulled out her pokeball and released Phoenix.

"Would you kindly torch them a little?" Asked Erica innocently. Her avian friend seemed a little curious, but obliged anyways.

The flaming avian flew over to Brett and torched the wall next to him, and then she blew fire on his ice chair. Brett instantly jumped off of the wall and began a stop-drop and roll.

"Erica! Why did you do that!?" Yelled Brett as he was rolling.

"Because ten minutes isn't that long! Besides, the flame didn't get that close to you!" She turned her attention to the gym leader who was somehow, still sleeping. Immediately the blond thought that he was just faking it, but he still slept through the flames.

Erica's patience and doubt had all but vanished as she ran over to put out the surrounding flames. In a matter of seconds, the ice-type gym leader jumped out of his chair like a cartoon character and began to stop-drop-and-roll on the floor. When Wulfric finally stopped his silly little rant, he turned to Erica with a serious face.

"You, young lady! How did my chair catch on fire!" Demanded the gym leader as he pointed to Erica.

"W-well you see, I wanted to challenge the gym and you were sleeping." Admitted the blond challenger, a little guilty about torching him. Her Talonflame also felt a little guilt.

"I see, so you're the challenge that he warned me about." Stated Wulfric.

"Yes, I am Erica Tamashii from Vaniville town." She held out her pokeball.

"Very well, I accept your challenge."

Wulfric released his snowflake pokemon with a creepy face (shivers), Cryagonal. Erica sent out Phoenix. Instantly, she was aiming to utilize type advantage.

"Phoenix, use flame charge." The fire bird built up the flames and rammed into its opponent.

"Cryagonal, use light screen." The giant snowflake built up a barrier of light to block any more attacks.

"Darn, use acrobatics." Phoenix dive-bombed against its target, cryogonal suffered major damage. "Counter with night slash." Cryogonal spun and rammed into phoenix, leaving a critical hit.

"Use roost." The fire type encircled feathers around it to restore health. "Now, use flame charge again." The Talonflame impacted and defeated its opponent.

Wulfric retrieved Cryogonal. He almost laughed at how this challenge was going.

"You seem to know what you're doing." Complemented the gym leader. Erica smirked at the complement and didn't hold back to brag.

"Well, I did learn from two experts. I have been through a lot." But that didn't exactly discourage the ice-type gym leader.

Wulfric's next pokemon was an Abomasnow. And it was big, if not, bigger than the one that they met in Frost Cavern. The blond couldn't help but tie the similarities between the pokemon and the gym leader. Despite its daunting size though, Abomasnow had a four-times weakness to fire. Erica greatly took this opportunity for a strike.

"Yosh, Phoenix, use flame charge." The pokemon obeyed its trainer and charged into the giant. But the attack didn't see as effective as it should've been.

"Nani?"

"Use water pulse." Abomasnow reared its left arm up and launched a water pulse attack that surprised the blond and knocked back the Taloneflame.

"And finish it with rock throw." The giant snowman punched into the ground and pulled out a rock that it threw towards the flaming avian. Phoenix was launched back to the ground.

Erica quickly pulled her pokemon back. She took a few moments to think, and she couldn't figure out how Abomasnow could withstand an attack like that. Wulfric caught onto this and stroked his mustache in a mocking manner.

"Certainly you must know that this is the prime result of a strong bond between a trainer and a pokemon." Her head perked a little at hearing that. Erica had seen the bonds with her pokemon prevail when she needed it too the most, and now she began to doubt if she shared those bonds well enough.

In its cave, Mewtwo continued to watch the match with disgust. It was not impressed as this trainer didn't live up to what it had seen in Keith's memories. The legendary pokemon felt it necessary to contact Keith and mock him.

Keith sat on his chair in the center when he could feel the psychic feeling penetrating his mind. This time though, he was prepared for an argument.

'I thought that she would do better than that.' Said the psychic type.

'She will do better.' Promised the trainer. However Mewtwo didn't buy into that.

'How do you know?'

'Just keep watching.' The clone pokemon felt like that really was the only way it would get its answer.

After she pulled back Phoenix, Erica had to analyze the situation. She had only seen another Abomasnow in Frost Cavern, so she had very little to go off of. But that didn't stop her from trying.

'A giant torso...strong arms...stubby legs...' Thinking about that would give her exactly the answer she needed. An attack strategy formulated in her mind as she pulled out her most loyal pokemon.

"Go Psyedge!" She threw out her psychic-fighting type.

"Use calm mind." The Gallade closed its eyes and focused energy, he didn't feel it necessary to ask for permission to attack this time.

"Abomasnow, use ice beam." The grass-ice type roared a thin beam of energy towards Psyedge.

"Counter with pyscho-cut." Psyedge drew up energy into his right arm and launched it towards the grass-ice type.

The attack sliced through the ice beam and knocked Abomasnow back. "Now rush in with a power-up-punch, aim low."

Pysedge jumped right infront of his opponent and delivered a crushing blow at the ground. The giant snowman pokemon stumbled back and fell to the ground. And at that moment, Psyedge jumped up and landed a power-up-punch into the grass-ice type. Knock out!

Wulfric sighed and retrieved his defeated pokemon. 'I was hoping that I wouldn't have to do this.'

He pulled out a third pokeball and launched it. The pokemon that came out looked like an upside down glacier with a head and feet. The massive ice pokemon, Avalugg.

"Wow, that thing is huge." Gawked Erica as she could feel herself shrinking down.

"Be warned, Avalugg here is strong enough to tear down this gym." Said Wulfric.

The blond challenger shook off her frightened demeanor and stood strong. "This wouldn't be the first time."

"Very well. Avalugg, use blizzard." The giant pokemon roared and a mighty storm blasted through Erica and Psyedge. The intensity of the storm forced both trainer and pokmeon to keep their eyes shut.

"What is this!?" Erica opened her eyes to discover that Psyedge had fallen down on one knee. Avalugg stood in front of him, proud and powerful.

'I'm sorry Erica-sama.' Apologized the pokemon before fainting on the ground. The girl was left with no other choice but to retrieve her fallen partner.

Erica bit her lip in worry and in shock. 'He wasn't kidding, that pokemon is crazy strong. But how in the world did it pull that off?' She began to brainstorm for some answers, any answers.

Brett stood on the far side of the gym. He had a serious, almost analytical, look on his face.

"But no strategy is without flaw."

Suddenly, a light-bulb went off in Erica's head. She looked back to the giant pokemon and noticed its key feature, size.

"Alright, Dragulong!" She sent out her dragon-poison type. Wulfric gawked, dragon types are weak to ice types. Just what was she thinking?

"Use sludge bomb." Dragulong summoned a massive amount of energy from his entire body and shot a giant sludge ball at ice type took the hit no doubt, but it was left with poisoned status.

"No matter, this battle will be over soon. Blizzard one more time."

Avalugg repeated its earlier strategy of blinding its opponent. Erica squinted her eyes again, but not without a smirk.

The blizzard quickly cleared and left a questioning sight. Both trainers were there, but the only pokemon was Avalugg. Wulfric's face was colored with surprise. He looked around almost frantically for the opponent. And he soon spotted a slight change in the floor.

"Avalugg use take down on the ground!" The glacier pokemon reared its left side into the ground, and into the poison dragon. Dragulong suffered under the one thousand, one hundred, and thirteen pounds of his opponent.

The teenager couldn't bare to see her friend being crushed like that. Quickly, she whipped out a pokeball and retrieved her Dragalge. She began to feel the doubt from earlier again, were her bonds not enough? Uneasiness quickly pulled Erica down from her confidence.

A shaking feeling on the side of Erica's belt pulled out of her thoughts. What was causing the vibrations was the pokeball that had Jirai inside it. Holding it in her hand, Erica could feel what her most trusted ally was telling her. Suddenly the unease had vanished from her mind.

"We're not done yet!" She launched the pokeball and her pokemon out.

"Jirai, use water shuriken!" The water ninja placed his hands on his hips to draw energy and launch the shuriken.

"Take it Avalugg!" The glacier stood against the attack. "Now counter with your take down."

Jirai was knocked back into his trainer, who stood against the impact to help up her partner. She had learned not to give up.

'Why is it that you believe in her so much?' Keith gave the pokemon the attention it wanted.

'She has the same thing that all trainers have when they start. Passion and confidence.' Mewtwo appeared a little shocked at that answer.

"You have competed well, but your pokemon isn't strong enough. Blizzard again." The chilling wind came up again. Instead of smirking or being surprised, Erica's face bore focus.

When the wind cleared, Wulfric could see Erica standing in front of a frozen Greninja. But the facial expression was not changed at all.

"Now!" Suddenly the shadow behind of Avalugg released Jirai as he knocked the giant pokemon over. The gym leader was surprised at this, he turned to see the frozen Greninja fall apart.

"A substitute..."

"Finish with hydro pump!" From above, Jirai launched a jet stream of water that hit the underside of the ice type and finished it.

Wulfric stood surprised at this sight. Retrieving his pokemon, he walked over to congratulate Erica.

"It seems that you've learned well. Here is the Iceberg badge." Congratulated Wulfric as he handed Erica her final badge.

With a proud smile on her face, Erica jumped up in the air with her froggy friend. They ran back to Brett and showed off the proof.

"Are we good or what?" Bragged Erica. Brett nodded with a proud face.

"That was a good tactic that you used." He placed his hand on her head and rubbed it. She playfully knocked his hand off.

They left the gym to regroup with Keith. Erica felt it necessary to show off her eighth gym badge that she had won with her pokemon. Keith was happy for her, and pretened that he didn't see it all through psychic imaging. They checked in to the hotel for the night. Hours passed by and the two champions had fallen asleep, but the blond couldn't fall asleep at all.

She felt like a little kid with a new toy. Reaching into her bag, she pulled out her badge case and took a look at the eight badges that shined from the moonlight. Bug Badge, Cliff Badge, Rumble Badge, Grass Badge, Voltage Badge, Fairy Badge, Pyschic Badge, and now the Iceberg Badge. Looking back to the night stand the excited teenager noticed her pokeballs, each containing one of her most valued partners that had teamed up with her along the way.

Satisfied with that last glance, she put her badge case away. Before falling into sleep she gave a silent thanks to her friends. Both Pokémon and human. As she fell asleep though, an empty feeling started to stain her heart.

Thank you for reading this chapter, hoped that you liked it. If you have anything to say about this chapter or the story in general, feel free to leave your opinion in a guest review. So what is this empty feeling that Erica has? Most true pokemon trainers will know what it is. In the next chapter, Erica prepares to take a dive into not only what it means to be a pokemon trainer, but herself as well.


	29. Chapter 29

Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon. I did not try to catch bugs as a kid...that was an inside joke. Neither do I own Keroro Gunso.

"Speech"

'Thought'

**'Electronic Speech'**

Previously in the Beautiful Adventure (always wanted to do that), the final gym of Kalos stood in the way of Erica. She and her pokemon friends fought hard through the challenge and succeeded in obtaining the final gym badge.

The next day Erica woke up first without the help of an alarm clock or any sunlight. Which was a strange occasion. She looked around to notice that both Brett and Keith were still in their beds.

She wanted to set up some kind of prank for her two friends. But a despair of emptiness was gripping at her heart. That feeling made it hard for her to stay in the room. So she put on her trainer outfit and trench coat.

Without eating anything, the blond wandered about the white town. This fact that she didn't know what the origin of the feeling was annoyed her. She thought critically about it, till the answer hit her hard.

'I beat all the gyms. Is there anything else that I can do on this journey?' Thought Erica. Her trek through the snow soon led her to a bench to sit down on.

"Should I just end my journey now?" Asked Erica to herself.

"Of course you shouldn't." The blond jumped off the bench and noticed that Keith was on it with her.

"How long were you there!?" Yelled the blond heroine.

"Only long enough." Said Keith as he took off his glasses to polish them.

Putting aside the illogical explanation that she was being stalked, Erica turned around to look up at the sky. Even though it wasn't snowing, it still seemed gray. She turned around to face her teacher.

"Well what should I do now, if I'm not to quit?" Asked Erica.

"You should do what you want to do." Answered Keith, she just sighed in response. Of all the people she knew, this guy seemed like the best to ask for the answer.

"That doesn't really help." Keith turned to her with light coming off of his glasses, and seriousness coloring his face.

"When I defeated the eighth Kanto gym leader, I asked myself the same question."

Keith looked down to his mega ring. And then he pulled out the pokedex with his other hand.

"I remembered that I wanted to prove myself to the world." Erica still felt like she was lost in all this. "Then I decided to keep getting better to prove myself. I challenged the Pokemon League."

Erica took a moment to let that sink in. She took a glance to her mega ring. Pulling out her pokedex, she noticed how it bore a few scratches. And finally she pulled out the orb that she found in Shalour bay.

Keith turned back to his student. "So what do you want to do?"

"Well, I guess that I want to get better...I'd challenge the pokemon league. But if they're anything like you and Brett are, I'll never win." Keith didn't seem to settle well with that answer.

He got up and grabbed Erica's shoulders and proceeded to shake her around, hard and fast. When she finally got him to stop she had to take a few seconds to recalibrate her vision. Looking back with an upset face, she expected a good reason for this.

"He's trying to tell you not to doubt yourself." The blond jumped again as she could see that Brett was standing behind the bench and bore a slightly disappointed face. And as usual, Erica felt that she could win an argument against them.

"Not that I don't appreciate the support, but history has proven that I cannot defeat you in battle." Argued the teenager as she referenced her battle with Keith in Lumiose city. However her friends didn't exactly buy into that.

"How can you doubt yourself after all you have been through?" Asked Brett seriously. She wanted to retaliate with some kind of witty answer, but nothing was coming to mind. Keith decided that they couldn't really help her with this decision.

"There is a way that you can find out what you want to do." Erica turned to him for an answer. He pointed towards Winding Woods, she followed his hand and felt a chill pass down her spine. "If you go there, I can promise that you'll find your answer."

Something in the back of Erica's mind was telling her that this was a bad idea, but what else could she do? And besides, these were her two friends who watched her throughout her entire journey. Her resolve was made clear as she wandered to the nearby forest.

Upon entry she already began to regret going there. Unlike her glasses wearing companion, Erica wasn't at all intrigued in ghosts. Unluckily for her Winding Woods had such a chilling atmosphere. Every few steps she could hear something rustling in the nearby bushes.

"If somebody is trying to play a trick on me it isn't funny!" Yelled Erica in frustration. She was already angry enough at her current situation, she didn't need a kid pranking her. But never-the-less the rustling continued.

"Quit it! I'm a skilled pokemon trainer!" That threat was empty as she had left her friends to rest some more in the hotel. The rustling continued without knowledge of the empty threat. At that moment, she couldn't take it anymore as she rushed over and pushed through the bush.

'What the...' She expected to see a little kid sitting there, but found nothing. Instead wooden arms stretched over to her and on instinct she jumped back. Only now did Erica realize the real threat.

A pack of wild Trevenant were stalking her through the woods, and now they had cornered her. The blond teenager took a couple steps back as she tried to come up with some kind of strategy to get out of this situation. However most of it was spent with her reassuring herself not to be afraid.

'I'm not afraid. I'm not afraid. I'm-" Suddenly an invasive feeling started to spread through her mind. The ghost-grass types were analyzing her. Her knees met the ground as Erica held her head in pain.

Her eighth gym battle.

Battling against Lysandre.

Telling AZ to forgive himself.

Challenging Brett and Keith.

The feeling melted away and she let go of her head. Each haunted tree gave a smile and crept away from the blond. As they left she started to smile and cry. It didn't take long before her companions arrived and helped her up.

"...Thank you." Whispered Erica. "I needed that reminder." She reached forward and hugged both of them. The three of them stayed like that for a few seconds, before Erica's stomach started to growl.

"It's ok, we missed breakfast too." The three of them shared laughter.

After some breakfast, the three prepared to move on from Snowbelle city. But as they were leaving, Erica got a message her holocaster. It was from her mother.

**'Hi sweetie, I'm sorry that I haven't been able to call you lately. The signal around here has been terrible. I'm just sending this message to see how you are doing. Call me back ok? Love you.'**

The blond smiled and sent a message back to her mother that told her exactly what she had been up to. She didn't really expect her mother to believe it all, but it was worth mentioning. Once she finished Erica turned to her companions, confirming that she was ready to move to the next route.

The next route didn't seem nearly as cold. Erica was once again boggled by the physics of climate change as she had to remove her trench coat.

"I will never understand how the temperature changes so quickly." Sighed Erica. She then looked over to her left to notice Brett battling against a random trainer.

A thought suddenly popped in her head. Why did Brett challenge the Pokemon League? Regardless of how urging it was Erica decided to ask him later, it would be a bad idea to take him through the whole shopping adventure again.

It came sooner than she expected, but Erica reached the entrance to Victory Road. This would be her final challenge before reaching the Pokemon League. And there was absolutely no doubt in her mind this time.

"All right, lets do it!" Yelled the challenger as she pumped her fist in the air.

"Good luck."

"We believe in you."

Surprised, Erica turned around to notice her two friends not following her. Half of her expected this to be a quick joke. "You guys aren't coming?"

"Champions aren't allowed to enter other victory roads of different regions without a warrant." Answered Keith

"Even if we could, only the challengers may go through." Continued Brett.

Erica deadpanned to the ground. She got up and faced her friends with an exhausted face. She decided that rules were rules and gave in.

"But how will you two get around?"

"Don't worry, there is a method for non-challengers." Stated Brett.

Right on cue, a hot air balloon came down in front of them. Brett and Keith boarded into the balloon and waved their friend off.

"Ok, I guess I'll see you later." Said Erica half-heartedly as she watched her friends ride away.

Turning back to the entrance, she ventured into the trying challenge that was Victory Road.

Upon walking into the place, Erica was greeted by the sight of an ace trainer messing with a holo-caster.

"I take it that you are here to challenge the pokemon league?" Asked the ace trainer as he put away his device.

"Thats right, I am." Claimed the protagonist as she held out her gym badges.

The guard took a minute to examine them thoroughly, irritating Erica a little. He stopped for a moment and pulled out a magnifying glass to further examine them. Once again, irritating Erica.

"Come on, I earned them fairly."

"Alright, but just to make triple sure." He pulled out a pokeball.

The feminine protagonist sighed and pulled out a pokeball. She sent out out Jirai. The ace trainer sent out carbink.

"Carbink, use-" He stopped as soon as he realized that Erica was bubbling at the sight of the cute pokemon. Need a visual image? Well you know what Tamama's face naturally looks like? Something like that.

"I know I have to attack, but I just can't bring myself to do so." Gushed the protagonist.

Jirai walked over to his trainer and licked her with his long tung. That was both good and bad, good because she snapped back, bad because her hair was messed up. A smile that seemed to be holding back anger decorated her face.

"Thanks...I guess..."

"Are you sure you earned those badges?" That question pulled Erica out of her 'kawaii' trance and back into battle.

"Of course I did! Jirai, use water shuriken!" The ninja frog jumped into the air and launched its signature attack.

"Carbink, use dig." The rock fairy dug underground to avoid the attack.

"Double team." Jirai used the classic ninja trick of cloning to avoid the attack.

The rock pokemon quickly surfaced and phased through a clone. "Crap." Cursed the ace trainer.

"Now use extrasensory." Jirai used the psychic force to hold the fairy in place. "And finish with water shuriken." Jirai launched his signature attack and finished off carbink.

The trainer retrieved his pokemon and sent out raichu as a reinforcer. Erica sent out Laxus. The ace trainer was surprised at her choice.

'She is not going for type advantage.' He decided to go through with this regardless.

"Raichu use body slam." The big mouse slammed inot its target in an attempt to damage.

"Laxus use cotton guard." The fur covering the ampharos suddenly poofed up and boosted his defense.

"Raichu use brick break."

"Power-up-punch!"

The two punching melee attacks collided against each other and knocked the air away like some kind of scene from Dragonball.

"Now defeat him with dragon pulse!" Laxus generated the purple energy in his mouth and launched the finishing move onto the electric mouse.

The guarding trainer reluctantly retrieved his pokemon. "Its not over yet, you still have to beat this one."

"Bring it on." Mocked Erica.

The last pokemon sent out was the regal sea horse pokemon, Kingdra. Erica retrieved Laxus and sent out Dragulong. Once again she had no intention of taking any type advantage.

"Kingdra use dragon rush." The water dragon charged into the poison dragon.

"Use sludge bomb at close range." Dragulong countered with his own toxic attack at point-blank range.

"Dragon pulse!" Commanded both trainers at the same time. The pokemon launched another dragonic blast that mimicked dragonball.

When the smoke cleared, Dragulong was out of sight. The ace trainer was caught off guard by one of Erica's favorite tactics

"What?"

"Now dragon pulse!" The seaweed pokemon shed its camouflage and launched the final attack. The Kingdra was knocked all the way back into they nearby wall.

The ace trainer called back his Kingdra and stepped out of the way, conceding that Erica had earned the badges.

"Best of luck to you."

"Thank you." Complemented Erica as she walked down the hall decorated with flags. Each different flag had a pattern of one of the badges on it. She kept walking till she came to a flight of stairs.

"Here I go."

On the other side Keith, his Barbaracle, his Chesnaught, and his Charizard were all restraining Brett from going into victory road.

"Come on, this is so boring." Whined Brett as he struggled against the multiple vice grips.

"Then call Kate." Suggested Keith.

"Good idea." He ran back into the pokemon center. The brown-haired champion sighed.

"Maybe we should of knocked him out."

Thank you for reading this chapter, hoped you liked it. If you have anything that you'd like to say about this chapter, or the story in general, feel free to leave a guest review. I promise that I'll look at it. Now it's on to the Pokémon League, the Elite Four, and the Champion for Erica.


	30. Chapter 30

Disclaimer: I, GalaxianDragon, for the thirtieth time, do not own Pokémon.

"Speech"

'Thought

_'Written Text'_

In the last chapter, Erica had taken a dive into her mind to discover herself. With her resolve cleared, the rising trainer moved towards Victory Road. And that pretty much sums up what happened in the last chapter.

So maybe we should get on with the story.

Erica walked up the stone stairs slowly. She wanted to defeat the Pokémon League as soon as possible, but she also didn't want to tire out her friends and herself. Once she got to the top of the staircase, she was greeted with an interesting sight. Large stone walls and stone towers decorated the outdoor mountainous landscape.

"I guess that this was one of the places where the war took place." Commented Erica.

The blond protagonist continued to walk around and admire the ancient structures. As she did though, she couldn't help but think about AZ. A tinge of worry started in her heart as she still felt sorry for him.

'I wonder...where did he go off to?' Asked Erica in her mind.

Her trek would lead her past the ancient architecture, and into the next cave.

On the other side of victory road, Brett took his friend's advice and called Kate.

"So you've been doing well in Kalos?" Asked Kate.

"Yep, I think that I've broken my own personal record." Brett put his hand on his arm in a show off way, in return his girlfriend giggled at his behavior.

"You haven't changed at all." Commented Kate Brett decided to laugh back.

"Well you have, your hair is shorter. It looks nice on you." Pointed out Brett. Kate blushed with a smile. She stroked her hair at the mention of its length.

"Thank you." Suddenly there was a bit of a screech on the other end of the line. The black haired champion was a little worried now. His girlfriend turned around to give a sudden waving of her hands. "Well I've gotta go now. I'll try to call you later." Kate winked and the screen shut off.

He thought deeply into the problem. There wasn't really anything that he could do, but he was still a little worried. But he stayed in the same spot for more than a couple of seconds.

'Crap I'm bored again.' Soon after he noticed Keith on a nearby couch.

Running over Brett pulled out a pokeball. He failed to notice the clipboard and pencil that his rival was holding. The analytical trainer noticed his friend dashing over and retained his composure.

"Keith battle us!" Demanded Brett.

"Sorry Brett, but I'm too busy trying to figure out this equation." Responded Keith.

"Come on!" Yelled Brett. To satisfy the curiosity of the audience, Keith was trying to use the power of physics to figure out how Dugtrio can weigh over forty times more than Diglett. Even for Keith that wouldn't be easy.

Erica burst out of the cave quickly, and her Greninja was not far behind. Both the pokemon and trainer started to catch their breath.

"I never..'pant'...knew that...'pant'...people could be so persistent." Said Erica as she caught her breath.

Her ninja pokemon nodded as it too attempted to catch its breath. Erica looked down to her partner. In her mind she became very grateful that she ever got to meet this pokemon, much less that he agreed to be her partner.

"Thanks, you know that I never would've gotten this far without you." Thanked the protagonist.

Jirai nodded. Erica was about to continue, but she failed to notice a pokemon above her head. It was the steel-flying type, Skarmory. The armor bird looked down and noticed the pink on the ground.

Erica was about to continue walking. And then the Skarmory swooped down and snatched her hat right off her head.

"Hey my hat!" Yelled Erica. She chased after the bird pokemon for a bit, and the she came to the edge of the cliff. Quickly, Erica waved her arms about in circles to avoid falling down. Jirai jumped in on instinct and pulled his trainer back.

'Crap, and that was my favorite hat too.' Thought Erica glumly.

Suddenly, a thought popped up in her head. Erica quickly undid the small ponytail at the end of her hair and redid it to become a normal ponytail.

"Alright, survival style." Stated the blondie. Her starter pokemon sighed, he did love being with his trainer but this wasn't exactly much of being a survivor.

Back on the other side, Brett and Keith were waiting silently for their friend outside the Pokémon Center. One of them playing catch with their pokemon, the other trying to solve an equation. You get three guesses and the last two don't count.

"She has come pretty for hasn't she?" Asked the black haired teen.

"Yeah I guess she has." Answered the brown haired genius.

They both reflected on their own challenges up till now. And their adventure with her.

"Child prodigies must be a thing now." Whispered Keith.

As Erica continued her trek throughout the difficult cave when she suddenly sneezed. "That was a little more than weird."

About thirty minutes later found Erica with nearly any progress. It seemed more like she was walking in circles. Needless to say, this lead our protagonist to frustration and confusion.

"How are we ever gonna get out of here?" It seemed that Victory Road was famous for being to difficult (for anyone who didn't know or doesn't notice it).

Erica continued up some stairs to get to higher grounds, at this point she figured out that Victory Road is conquered by reaching the top. Once high enough, she found there to be an exit to her left. She walked towards it. But suddenly, without warning, the ledge that she was walking on collapsed.

"Oh crap!" Screamed Erica as she grabbed onto the remaining parts of the ledge at the last moment.

Erica struggled to keep her hold. The situation was made worse by the fact that she could not reach for any help from her pokemon. If she took one hand off of the edge, there would be no question to the rest.

"Come on. I can't just stop here!" Grunted the protagonist as she struggled against gravity. It took about half a minute, but she managed to pull herself back up.

The next couple of minutes passed by with Erica holding her heart. At this point, it seemed like Victory Road was beating her down. The blonde picked herself up and decided to give her friends a quick rest. She placed out individual bowls of food for her pokemon. All six of them quickly ate, which surprised Erica.

"Don't you guys want to take some time to rest?" In unison, they all shook their heads. Time wasn't needed as the trainer quickly understood what this was about. They shared the determination too.

Once she retrieved her pokemon, she continued towards the exit of the cave. And she was greeted with a slightly purple sky upon exit.

"I was really in there that long?" She looked towards a nearby edge to realize how high up she was. "And did I really climbed up that high?"

Trying to steal her nerves, Erica continued forward. After all, who'd want to be stuck in a place like victory road for the night. And she seemed to be in luck, with only one more cave to go.

"I have to cross water this time?" Asked Erica. She conceded and called out her Dragalge to ride across the cave waves.

But sadly, as she crossed the water on her dragon, her clothes got even more messed up by the water. As she got to the other side, Erica hung her head down. She was depressed solely by how much her clothes had been ruined.

"Why does this keep happening?" Whined Erica.

Dragulong tried to cheer up his trainer, as best as a poison dragon could. And luckily, Erica was responsive.

"Don't worry, I'm sure that I can get some more any other time." Erica pulled out her pokeball and recalled her pokemon.

And with the majority of Victory Road cleared, all Erica had to do was reach the top and exit. Unfortunately, there were plenty of pokemon blocking her path.

'No way am I gonna let this stop me.' Thought Erica as she pulled out several pokeballs.

On the other side of the exit, Keith was watching the sunset along the horizon.

"So many wonderful sights of this world." Commented Keith.

He turned back to notice that somebody was coming out of the victory road cave.

It was Erica, but her clothes were ruined. Her appearance was even more damaged because her hair was both messed up and poofy. Keith quickly ran down to check on her, and to congratulate her at the same time. All the while, holding back a little laughter.

"Erica are you alright?"

"Yeah, but I do have one imperative question." Muttered the girl silently.

Keith analyzed her for a few seconds before he caught on to what she wanted to ask him.

"Yes, the pokemon center has a shower." Erica just ran into the center after that.

Keith pulled out a watch to take a look at the time. "Five hours and twenty minutes."

After a long shower, and some pokemon healing, the trio was reunited. Erica felt proud of herself, proud enough to challenge the pokemon league.

"So do you guys think that I'm up to it?" Asked Erica eagerly.

"No." Said both the champions in unison. Erica twitched in surprise, she expected some kind of support.

"Shouldn't you guys be supporting me?" Asked Erica a little desperately.

Brett and Keith looked at each other, it was like they were having a mental discussion. Erica watched on, wishing that she could understand what they were doing. Keith turned back to face his pupil.

"You are without doubt strong, but these are some of the strongest." Erica was starting to catch on to what he was saying. "You'll need at least a little more training than what you've got now."

Erica gripped her fists and looked down to the floor. She seemed a little upset at this reaction, but she rose up with a serious, determined look coloring her face.

"Ok, I'll be back soon for the challenge." She took her fully healed pokemon and went back to the victory road cave.

Both of the champions felt like they were just looking into a mirror.

A couple of hours later, Erica walked back into the pokemon center. She looked like she had run a 5k, and somehow she had her hat back. Her friends quickly rushed to her side.

"You ok?" Asked Brett.

"You should see the other guys." Laughed Erica. "I think I'll take the challenge now."

Brett grabbed her shoulder and stopped her before she could continue. "You need to rest."

Erica was about to protest. But, her stomach growled, and her eyes were weary. "Fine."

However, as she was about to find a place to rest, a familiar sight greeted her.

"Hello sweetie." The blond turned around at the sound of the familiar voice.

"Mom?" Her mother ran up and hugged her tightly.

"Oh I'm so proud of you! You've done really great in this journey! And now you're challenging the Pokémon League." Her daughter struggled out of the vice grip and caught her breath.

"Thank you Mom, but we are going to take some time to rest before that." In response her mother shook her head, still with a proud smile.

"That doesn't matter to me. I am just so proud of how far you've come from being afraid of the rest of the world. I'll be cheering you on sweetie." Promised the mother as she left.

The grateful smile on Erica's face couldn't have been bigger. She was so happy for her mother's support and how that woman didn't try to hold her back in any way. A mother happily accepting and supporting her child's dreams and potential.

In the night sky, a Charizard was leading both Keith and Erica's mother towards Vaniville town. It was actually Keith who had helped her get to the Pokémon League. And he also vouched to get her back home.

"Keith, I have a question for you." He turned around to give her attention.

"Will Erica continue to adventure like this?" He felt it only necessary to give an appropriate answer.

"That is up to her to decide, I can't answer that." They landed in Vaniville town and Keith dropped her off before taking back on his pokemon. The mother stood outside for more than a couple of seconds.

"...That's good then..."

The coming day, Erica woke up from her nap and ate a healthy breakfast. Walking over to where Nurse Joy was, she picked up her full team of six. She looked around to see if Brett and Keith were waiting for her, but found no sign of either of them. As she was about to leave, she could feel something in her pocket. A hand-written note.

_'We will be waiting for you on the other side.'_

_'-Brett and Keith'_

Erica silently nodded and left the center. To be the very best was her next stop.

Thank you for reading this chapter. Hoped you liked it. If you have anything that you'd like to say about this chapter or the story in general, feel free leave a guest review. In the next chapter, we begin the three part series against the Pokémon League challenge. Wait, did I just say three part?...crap.


	31. Chapter 31

Disclaimer: Sorry, I'm a little lazy this time. You can check my previous thirty disclaimers though.

"Speech"

'Thought'

Erica walked toward the entrance of the league castle. Upon entry, she was greeted with a dual hallway of bronze and white tiles. Portraits decorated the hallway.

"These must be the champions who came before me." Noted Erica as she observed the different people in the paintings.

She came across a picture of a man who strangely resembled AZ. Walking further down the hallway, she found two pictures that she was expecting. One was of Brett, and another of Keith. Erica looked down to each picture to note the dates.

'Wow, they've both been trainers for that long?'

The blonde protagonist walked further towards the end of the hallway. As she walked even further, she came to pass a giant door that led her to a new room where the door closed behind her. The new room was dimly lit by tinted glass and a large carpet in the center.

In the center of the room stood a women with red pants, a black jacket, pink hair, and orange sunglasses. Said women turned to face Erica when she heard her enter. She walked up close to our protagonist and took a few moments to inspect her.

"Oh, you're that Erica Tamashii girl aren't you?" Asked the women. Needless to say, Erica was a little perplexed at how this woman knew who she was.

"Yes I am, how did you know?"

"You're pretty famous for stopping Team Flare." Noted the women.

She turned towards one of the four other doors. "We expect a tough challenge from you."

Erica realized after that what the woman meant, she was one of the members of the Elite Four. She felt a little stupid for not asking for her name. It didn't take long before she put it aside because she would find out later.

She then looked around to note that there were four other doors, including the one that the women walked into. There was also one large door stationed behind her.

'That must be were the champion is. I wonder who it is?'

Erica walked into the door that was to her right. Once she walked into it, the blond found a sign that read, 'Ironworks Chamber'. She continued trek towards the end of the room. Once Erica came to the end she walked on to a platform. And moments after that, platform lifted up off the ground.

After the uplifting, the protagonist found herself in a room filled with iron columns.

"What is this place?" Instead of an answer two giant swords fell down and struck the ground, causing Erica to literally jump off the ground in surprise.

The two swords turned and the iron columns lifted up. What was behind the columns was a man covered in armor. His hair was a crazy mix of grey and yellow, the yellow forming a kind of star shape in his hair.

"Greetings young trainer, you have come to challenge the league?" Asked the man.

"Yes I have. I am Erica Tamashii of Vanville town."

"Very well, I am Wikstrom of the Elite Four." He pulled out his pokeball and sent out the key collector fairy, Klefki.

Erica sent out Psyedge. Wikstrom instantly took the initiative. "Klefiki, use dazzling gleam!"

A blinding flash came from the metal fairy that dealt heavy damage to Psyedge because he was part fighting, but that wouldn't be enough to stop him. The challenger could feel the power in the bond with her pokemon.

"Use power-up-punch!"

"Use reflect." Klefki quickly generated a barrier that would raise its defense, but that didn't save it from the attack. Power-up-punch boosts the attack stat by the same amount of a sword dance.

"Hit it with another power-up-punch." Psyedge landed another hit that defeated the pokemon.

Wikstrom pulled back his defeated pokemon. He sent out an Aegislash as the next to fight. She hadn't seen this pokemon before, so Erica immediately pulled out her pokedex to scan it. She found that it was a pokemon that evolved from Doublade.

'Just like Brett and Keith.' It clicked in her head that both of her seniors had fought with that pokemon.

"Aegislash, use shadow ball" The ghost type drew up its energy and attacked. The attack was strong enough to knock back the Gallade.

"Use pyscho cut!" Gallade aimed to slash the sword with his own attack. It would only do half damage, but it would be enough.

"King's Shield!" The ghost-steel type slid into its shield and created an energy shield that stopped the incoming attack. Psyedge stumbled back after that block, his attack stat had fallen.

"Finish it off with shadow claw." The sword pokemon jumped out of the shield and used its blade to finish off the psychic-fighting type.

Erica reluctantly called her friend back. She threw her next pokeball and released Jirai.

"Quick, use dark pulse!" Jirai hit ground and released a dark energy wave. The attack made aegislash flinch before it could put up protection.

"Now use water shuriken." Since the water attack came first, it didn't give Wikstrom or his Aegislash enough time to react against the attack. Five hits in a row succeeded in dee The iron-clad man retrieved his fainted pokemon.

"You seem to know your way around." Commented the knight.

"Thanks, I get that from time to time."

"But let's see how you do against a speedy opponent." He sent out the metal dragonfly pokemon with fake heads on its claws, Scizor.

"Scizor, use double team." Scizor moved so fast that it multiplied. "Jirai, use double team as well."

Both pocket monsters had multiplied several clones of each other. At this point, it would be hard to tell which was the real one. Erica suddenly had a stroke of brilliance.

"Use flash!" The ninja frog created a hand symbol and burst a giant flash of light.

Wikstrom and his pokemon had to cover their eyes. Erica was resourceful and used her hat as a shield. Looking carefully at the ground, and making sure not to be blinded, she found her opponent's weak point.

"Use dark pulse on the one to the right." Jirai slammed its fist into the ground to release the attack and stun the enemy. His target flinched back as the light dimmed.

"Finish it with hydro pump!"

A giant jet stream of water knocked the metal bug into one of the sword columns. Wikstrom was left baffled, forced to give in and retrieve his pokemon.

"You were able to see his shadow, weren't you?" Erica tipped her hat.

"I knew it would be a good idea to get this back."

The knight pulled out his final pokeball, Erica called her pokemon back. Wikstrom sent out his final pokemon, the giant nose (yes, a nose) pokemon Probopass.

"Alright, then I'll finish with Venus." Proclaimed Erica as she sent out the grass dinosaur.

"Use iron defense." The steel pokemon hardened itself to strengthen its defense.

'Most of the attacks that Venus uses aren't too effective from the start.'

"Use leech seed." Venus launched the tiny, yet deadly, seeds that landed on the giant nose.

"That won't be enough, use flash cannon." Probopass charged up a massive light energy blast that hit Venus square on the face.

"Quick, counter with bulldoze!" The Venusaur stomped its feet against the ground that caused a miniature earthquake. The steel-rock typing of Probopass didn't help it out one bit, quadruple damage.

"Now double edge!" The Venusaur slammed against the steel-rock type and slammed against the other sword column. Probopass knocked Venus away from itself and levitated back to the ground. The grass starter rolled back onto its feet, and the magnetic pokemon fell to the ground.

Wikstrom retrieved his final pokemon and conceded. That's one victory for Erica. "Well done, I congratulate you on this first victory."

"Thank you."

"Good luck with the rest, Lady Erica." He slammed his right hand onto his chest to salute his victor. She blushed at her new title.

Erica stepped back on the stone pedestal and was transported back to the large room. Wasting no time, she quickly healed her team. Erica then proceeded to the door adjacent of where she was.

The next chamber that she entered was exactly the same as the last one, except it was titled, 'Blazing Chamber'. And just like last time, Erica walked onto the stone pedestal and rose up.

The room that she entered into was dark. Suddenly there were two tiny sparks, and then two massive flames burst up from the ground. When the light had cleared, Erica could clearly make out the room she was in.

The women she met earlier was sitting down in a chair with a bored expression. The expression shifted to one mixed between interest when she saw Erica enter.

"I see you finally made it."

The women stood up and walked over to Erica. "I, Malva of the Elite Four, accept your challenge."

Both trainers released their pokemon. Malva sent out the lion of fire, Pyroar. Except instead of having a more spread out mane, the mane of this one was more of a ponytail. Erica sent out Dragulong as she wasn't going to try her luck without type advantage this time. But Malva wasn't about to let that.

"Use roar." The lion let out a fearsome roar that sent Dragulong back into his pokeball, and dragged out Phoenix.

"Fine, Phoenix use acrobatics." The fire bird flew up and dive bombed against the lion. The impact dealt double damage because Phoenix held no items.

"Use hyper beam." A massive dark beam was launched at point blank range, nearly defeating Phoenix. The challenger quickly decided to make a come back.

"Quick, use roost." Phoenix flapped its wings and healed itself. However in doing so, she used up the time that Pyroar used to recharge.

"Hit it with hyper beam again." Erica anticipated a counter against it this time.

"Use flame charge to dodge." The flying type coaxed itself in flames and flew around the beam with its increased speed.

"Nani?" Malva was greatly caught off guard as she was sure that the hyper beam would hit and finish the fire bird.

"Land in with acrobatics." Due to the backlash of hyper beam, Pyroar could only take the hit and fall. The elite four member gritted her teeth and retrieved her pokemon.

"Fine, come now Talonflame!" Malva sent out the same pokemon as her challenger.

"Talonflame, use acrobatics."

"You too phoenix!" The fire birds flew up and exchanged blows in mid air. Erica was having trouble keeping up her vision. Malva had no trouble with this, and shee easily caught onto her challenger's problem.

"Use giga impact." The Talonflame broke the monotony by coaxing itself powerful energy and impacted. Phoenix held on tight with her talons. The result was giving the opponent the burn status.

"Phoenix, don't let go!" The fire bird turned back with a confident expression (I know, I know). Her trainer saw it and realized what it meant. Phoenix's wings held down the wings of her opponent, both of them dive bombed to the ground.

When the smoke cleared, it was revealed that both had fainted. Erica felt a little sad that her friend was willing to go through that. Erica immediately sent out Dragulong. And Malva sent out the chandelier pokemon, Chandelure.

"Dragulong, use sludge bomb."

"Use fire blast." The attacks collided and created an explosion. "Quick, camouflage." Dragulong shifted into a fire type and became invisible.

'Smart girl.' Thought Malva as she couldn't find the dragon. However, the elite had a quick trick up her sleeve.

"Use curse." Shaking, the chandelier put a curse on the invisible opponent. Dragulong's camouflage came off as he shivered, giving a clear shot. "Hit it with a shadow ball!"

Chandelure conjured ghostly energy around its individual lights and formed a bigger ball in the center. Said giant ball of energy was launched towards the shivering pokemon.

"Quick, use hydro pump!" Dragulong mustered itself up and launched a powerful enough attack to push the shadow ball back into the ghost type. Chandelure fell to the ground, with x's in its eyes.

'She is starting to annoy me.' Thought the pink haired hottie (get it?...sorry). She sent out her last pokemon the wise fire tortoise, Torkoal.

"Quick, use hydro pump again." Commanded Erica. Malva responded by boosting defense instead of offense.

"Iron defense." Torkoal tucked into its shell to make its defense higher, allowing it to survive the attack. "Now body slam." The turtle impacted against Dragulong, hard.

"Don't let go!" The Dragalge didn't dare let go of the tortoise as he wrapped his thin arms around the round body. In response, Torkoal struggled to become released.

"Dragulong, use dragon pulse." The dragonic energy impacted the fire turtle at point blank range. Unfortunately however, the fire turtle remained undefeated.

"That all? Use rapid spin." Torkoal tucked his legs and head in and began to spin quickly, very quickly. Dragulong held on with all his might but with those thin wet arms, the dragon slid off.

"And hit it with a earth power!" The fire type stomped the ground and lava started to spew around Dragulong.

Smoke surrounded the area, forcing Erica squinted her eyes. She hoped for a certain move, and then a jet stream of water came out and defeated Torkoal on impact. When the smoke cleared, the poison dragon was seen barely standing before he fell over from his earlier curse.

Surprised, Malva turned to her challenger. It didn't help that she was equally surprised.

"I guess we were so in sync that he read my moves." Answered the blond. Not only did Dragulong know what to do, he held it out for his friend who gave him confidence.

Both trainers retrieved their pokemon. Erica walked forward to thank Malva for the battle but as she got closer, she could see anger on her opponent's face.

"I'd wish you good luck, but I'm a little too angry right now. I could burn you right where you stand."

Erica silently backed out of the room. Upon reentering the empty hallway, Erica quickly restored her the health of her pokemon. Looking around she entered the room labeled, 'Dragonmark Chamber'.

Thank you for reading this chapter, hoped you liked it. If you have anything that you want to say about this chapter or the story in general, feel free to leave a guest review. In the next chapter, Erica continues her challenge against Drasna and Siebold.


	32. Chapter 32

Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon. I would very much rather own Gundam...so very much.

"Speech"

'Thought'

When we last left off our blond protagonist had defeated two of the Elite Four. Her bonds were able to tear through scorching flames and iron brigades. As she ventured onto the next chamber, Erica couldn't help but feel a little smug.

'Don't let it get to your head.' Echoed Keith's voice in Erica's consciousness. A chill ran down her spine shortly afterwards.

"Ok, that was a little creepy." She stepped on the pedestal and rose up to the next room, and the next challenge.

The chamber was fairly foggy, purple fog to be exact. The female protagonist couldn't help but inhale the purple air. She expected to have to cough it back out, but she had a much different reaction. A tasty grape flavor danced on her tongue.

'A grape juice mix?' The delicious fog slowly cleared, which revealed a giant dragon statue.

The wings of the giant statue opened up to reveal its intimidating head and an elderly woman below it. She was dressed like she was from the Stone Age, with bones as decoration. She did bear a happy, grandmother-like smile. It all seemed to go together with her long dark hair.

"Why hello there, it is so nice to see a challenger here." Greeted the woman as she waved her hands.

"Nice to meet you too, is there any reason that your fog taste like a kid's fruit drink?" Asked Erica.

"Because it tastes good." The blond fell on her butt.

Managing to pull herself back up, Erica reached into her bag and pulled out our favorite spherical device. "Anyway, I challenge you."

"Very well. I, Drasna of the Elite Four, accept your challenge."

With the first balls thrown Erica had sent out Laxus, and Drasna sent out a Dragalge. The blond felt like she might have an advantage because she had a Dragalge with her.

"Dragalge, use aqua jet." The poison type charged forth to impact as fast as it could. The counterattack would have to be quick.

"Use electro ball to dodge." Laxus coated itself in electricity to float up quickly to dodge. Once in the air, he quickly plummeted back down to land on the skinny dragon.

"Wrap your arms around it." Commanded the old woman. Just like Erica had done before, the poison dragon wrapped its thin body around its opponent.

"Laxus, use cotton guard." And on command, the pokemon puffed its fur to make it more defensive. And it worked in pushing Dragalge off with the increased diameter.

"Dragalge, quickly use dragon pulse." The dragonic energy launched and knocked Laxus straight in the face. Luckily for Erica her pokemon toughened it out, but the shot to the face gave the opponent a clear chance to attack again.

"Use poison tail!" Drasna's pokemon charged forth and slammed the Ampharos in the gut.

"Retaliate with your own dragon pulse." Laxus charged up with his own energy and launched his enemy back.

"Now quickly use discharge." Laxus generated the electricity again and launched the wave that impacted greatly enough to knock out his opponent. But no sooner did he faint from Dragalge's poison touch.

Both trainers had no choice but to retrieve their pokemon. The elderly woman quickly launched the next pokeball that contained the cloud pokemon that doesn't look too much like a dragon, Altaria.

'Hmm...Altaria are usually slow flyers.' Erica decided to abuse that slow nature with Jirai's speed.

"Altaria, use cotton guard." The dragon puffed up its guard just like Laxus did (while we are on that, let's just imagine how funny a puffed up Altaria would look...heh heh).

"Jirai, use extrasensory." The ninja frog used his hands to create a pattern of symbols that released psychic energy onto the cloud dragon. But unfortunately, that barely did any damage due to cotton guard's effect.

"Now use dragon dance." Altaria performed a few fearsome aerial maneuvers that greatly increased its attack and speed, making it more of a threat to Jirai.

"Now hit it with dragon pulse." The seemingly adorable dragon charged up the energy necessary to attack. Purple energy impacted on the opponent. Even though Jirai toughened it out, it still greatly hurt.

"Jirai, use dark pulse." The blond challenger was aiming for using the same attack type bonus. The dark wave did stun the Altaria, but it was nowhere near enough to take down its boosted stat total.

Erica panicked as she realized that she needed to think of something quick. She never thought that she would have so much of a challenge from a creature that resembled a cloud.

'Wait...cloud...?' A light bulb went off above her head (metaphorically) as she came up with the counter attack.

"Jirai, use water shuriken." Drasna began to show disinterest as this attack, on its own, couldn't possibly do that much damage. The heroine caught could see the uninterested face and decided to reveal the trick.

"Now hit your attack with ice beam."

The water type pulled down his tongue scarf and launched the freezing ray that instantly froze all of the shurikens. All five landed on Altaria and managed to defeat it because of the quadruple damage factor.

Somehow though, Drasna didn't seemed fazed at all from any of this as she retrieved her pokemon. Erica caught onto that and felt that she should ask.

"Aren't you a little surprised by any of this?"

"Not in the least, the champion is better than this." A drop of sweat rolled down Erica's forehead upon hearing that.

Drasna pulled out her third pokemon, the prickly ornery dragon, Druddigon. Instead of switching out her pokemon, Erica felt that it would be better if she used Jirai's speed again.

"Jirai, quickly hit it with ice beam." Commanded the blond challenger as she knew that Druddigon were aggressive pokemon.

"Use dynamic punch." The dragon punched through the cold attack and uppercutted the ninja frog, tossing the poor Greninja into the air.

Panicking, the challenger put aside her own health and ran forward to catch her friend. She fell down to the ground as her body was used as a safety mat for her starter.

Jirai felt bad about damaging his trainer and struggled to get back up to fight. As he barely stood on two webbed feet, a red beam enveloped him and was sucked back into the pokeball.

"Thanks, but you've done enough." Whispered Erica, and with a serious look she released her fire bird.

"That isn't too much of a good choice." Noted the Elite Four member with the same uninterested face from earlier.

"Yeah we happen to get in the a lot, use flame charge." Phoenix, cloaked in flames, rained down against the tough dragon.

The avian returned to her trainer's side, but with some scratch marks on her face. Worry and confusion spread on the protagonist's face. Drasna caught onto this and felt it necessary to explain.

"Druddigon has the ability rough skin, impact from another pokemon causes damage." Explained the dragon woman with a happy smile.

Erica looked back at her pokemon that landed on the ground, and she came to the realization of how difficult this was becoming. But Phoenix gave the same look from the last battle, and her partner understood this time.

"Well we are not gonna give up just because of that, use roost." Phoenix nodded and restored its health. With some health back, the Talonflame took flight again.

"Druddigon, use giga impact." The dragon coaxed its body in the powerful wave of energy and used his wings to impact her opponent in the torso. Phoenix was knocked all the way back into the left with of the dragon statue.

The elder couldn't help but feel a little smug at first, but then she noticed that her pokemon was in the best of shape.

"What is wrong?" It was then that a scorch mark had made itself known on Druddigon's head. It was now Erica's turn to feel smug, tactics on her side.

"Phoenix has the ability flame body, contact from the opponent can cause burns." She turned to her pokemon, and the two nodded. Turning back, the trainer gave a confident smile.

"Finish with acrobatics." Phoenix flew upwards and dive-bombed into the enemy to finish it off. Consequently, it finished her off too.

A double knock out, Drasna retrieved her pokemon and sent out a Noivern.

'Just like Brett.' Thought Erica. She sent out Dragulong to finish the job, even though he would have the same disadvantage.

"Use dragon pulse!" Commanded both trainers. Both pokemon fired their beams unto each other, creating a large explosion.

"Now use crunch." The sonic dragon dove down and chomped on the head of Dragulong, who panicked in response.

"Calm down and use dragon pulse." Erica's voice managed to calm Dragulong. He use his limber body to wiggle out and launch the attack at point blank.

Although the Noivern let go, she didn't faint after that attack.

"Use boomburst." The two speakers on Noivern began to generate a sound that rose to an ear piercing volume quickly.

Erica covered her ears to avoid the pain. The poison dragon withstood the attack, and the blond began to plot the next move. Noivern started to fly up, and the challenger noticed the big speakers.

"Dragulong, use sludge bomb on the head." Dragulong aimed straight up and launched the bomb onto Noivern's massive ears. Drasna showed a look of great surprise.

The dragon-flying type fell back to the ground and scratched her head furiously.

"Now, quickly use dragon tail!" The Dragalge slammed his tail into the face of Noivern. The sound dragon was knocked out into the nearby statue.

Drasna returned her pokemon and retained her happy smile face. Erica bowed in thanks for the match.

"Well done in battle. I wish you best of luck against the champion."

"Thank you."

Once the challenger returned to the center room, she once again healed up her pokemon. But she noticed something important.

'Crap, I'm running low on medicine.' She would have to get very focused for this next match.

Despite the handicap, Erica continued to the last Elite Four member. The final chamber, named 'Flood Chamber', had two large chains that connected to the ground. Said chains pulled up out of the ground and water spouted out. Surprising, Erica wasn't wet.

'Ok, thats weird.' She approached the final member of the Elite Four. It was a blond man wearing a white suit with blue highlights, and he was facign away from Erica.

"No, that just simply can't be..." He turned around to face Erica and quickly pointed to her.

"You, young trainer, do consider pokemon battling an art?" Asked the man.

Erica was surprised by this sudden act, but she dwelled on that question. As she did, the voices of Keith and Brett echoed in her head.

'It's more of a science.'

'If it was an art, it wouldn't be fun.' She decided to go against both of their answers.

"I guess it is." Answered the blond challenger. The blond man nodded as he took in her answer. He reached into his coat and pulled out a pokeball.

"Very well, then let us battle!" In response, Erica jumped back and pulled out a pokeball quickly.

"You're not even gonna tell me your name?" She had become used to introductions before a match started. The man sighed in response to this, like he didn't want to answer her.

"Very well, I am Siebold of the Elite Four."

"Alright, I am Erica Tamashii of-" She had to cut the sentence short as Siebold sent out the psychic starfish, Starmie. Erica quickly sent out Jirai, she was aiming to match the psychic typing with dark typing.

"Starmie, use signal beam."

"Jirai, use dark pulse" Both attacks landed and left heavy damage. "Jirai, use substitute."

The frog left a doll of itself and disappeared. Siebold showed disgust, as if he didn't like that tactic. But he had to continue the match.

"Use reflect type." The psychic starfish spun around the water till the color of its crystal changed into a dark blue.

"Ice shuriken." Jirai appeared behind the starfish and used his combo attack to knock down about a quarter of Starmie's stamina. Without damaging his opponent enough, the Greninja resumed his hiding. Siebold carefully followed the movements.

"Starmie, use signal beam." A beam shot out from the crystal in the center of Starmie and destroyed the decoy. The Elite Four member then pointed up at the right chain. "Now use rapid spin!"

The water-psychic type obeyed and spun around the chain until it came towards its opponent. Jirai was knocked off of the chain that he was holding onto and fell to the wet ground.

"Use thunderbolt!" From its aerial position, Starmie launched an electric attack that would be sure to defeat the Greninja.

"Jirai, quickly dodge and use ice shuriken again!" The frog jumped out of the range and launched its combo attack. This time it succeeded in defeating the opponent.

Starmie fell to the ground and its crystal changed back. Siebold couldn't help but feel a little excited. He threw out a pokemon that Erica remembered clearly, Gyarados. She noticed that Jirai was a little nervous, and withdrew him. She understood that he was low on health and was easily defeated by one last time.

"This one should be quick." Said Erica as she released Laxus to the playing field.

"You can say that again, earthquake." The leviathan slammed its elongated body against the floor, causing an earthquake as it knocked away the water. However, Laxus managed to tough it out.

"Laxus, use discharge." The electricity surged into Gyarados, but it seemed to toughen it out too.

"What?" Gawked the challenger.

"Ice beam." The cold energy froze the water around Laxus, forcing him to be frozen and open to attack.

"Iron head." The water-flying type rammed into the Ampharos, effectively defeating him. As the blond girl retrieved Laxus and sent out Psyedge, she couldn't help but feel that this an was a mix of her seniors.

'I won't fail you, Erica-sama.'

'Then use psycho cut.' The knight nodded and jumped forward, he launched a pink blade that impacted Gyarados's crest.

"Iron head again." The Gyarados charged forth and knocked Psyedge back to the ground.

"Use calm mind." The psychic-fighting type calmed down and withstood the attacks from the Gyarados. "And use stored power."

Pysedge released energy upwards that came back down and rained onto the leviathan. The Elite Four member pulled his pokemon back and sent out a Barbaracle, further reminding Erica of Keith.

"Use cross chop."

"Power-up punch."

What ensued was a boxing match against the two pokemon repeating their attacks. Pysedge landed a critical hit against the stomach of his opponent (not below the belt people).

"Finish it." Commanded Erica.

"Catch the attack." The rock-water type stopped the attack with his arm on his shoulder. "And use ice punch."

Barbaracle smashed Psyedge into his stomach with the lower arm. He skidded across the ground until he came to his trainer. Erica picked up her defeated partner.

'Thanks, you did well.'

She returned Psyedge for a rest and picked out Venus. Erica decided not to hesitate at all, she pressed the mega ring which caused venus to mega evolve.

"Use ice punch." The sea rock pokemon smashed its fist into Venus, but she took the hit. Her thick fat saved her from type disadvantage.

"Now, bulldoze." The dinosaur slammed its feet into the ground, the shockwaves ensued in defeating the pokemon.

Siebold seemed intrigued when he retrieved his pokemon, despite the losing state he was in. The blond elite sent out his final pokemon, the shellfish that had a claw three times its body size, Clawtizer.

"Use dark pulse." The giant crab pulsed the dark power into Venus from its claw, which caused her to flinch.

Erica decided to counter this with Venus's size as a weapon.

"Venus, use body slam." It was a painful attack as the massive dinosaur impacted against Clawtizer. But it appeared that the giant claw was being used as a shield.

"Clawtizer, ice beam." The crustacean knocked the dinosaur off it and launched its beam from its claw, but Venus stood still. That got Erica's attention as she knew what to do.

"Venus, use leech seed onto the arm." Seeds landed onto the massive claw and the vines that grew from them sealed it shut.

Siebold was caught off guard as Erica finished it.

"Use petal blizzard." The storm of petals attacked from all directions, preventing the water pokemon from using its claw as a shield. Clawtizer was defeated, and Erica had won.

"Alright we did it!" Screamed Erica as she ran over to hug her mega pokemon.

"Congratulations, your battle with me was vigorous." Said Siebold.

"So that's why you seemed so interested in the battle. Anyway, thank you for the match." Said Erica with a confident smile.

As she left, Siebold couldn't help but feel a little uneasy for the battle that would come next.

'I can't tell if she will win or not.'

Once Erica returned to the giant hallway, her first impulse was to restore her friends' health. Fortunately for her, there was barely enough to get through. She felt a little worried about this set back.

'At least this battle will be on even grounds.'

Suddenly, the giant doors at the end of the hallway opened up. Bright light shone forth. Erica slowly walked forward to see what would await her in the most intense battle of her life.

Thank you for reading this chapter, hoped you liked it. If you have anything that you want to say about this chapter or the story in general, feel free to leave a guest review. In the next chapter, we begin the final battle in the Pokémon League Challenge(...what, no effects? 'sigh')!


	33. Chapter 33

Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon, Yu-Gi-Oh, Gundam, Digimon, Keroro Gunso, Fairy Tail...where am I going with this? Enjoy the story!

"Speech"

'Thought'

In the last chapter of The Beautiful Adventure, our blond protagonist took on the last two members of the Elite Four. With the doors open, she walked into the final test of the Pokémon League.

Erica walked through the giant doors and blinding light to find the room decorated with bronze tiles and windows that poured light into the room. As she trekked further inward, she found a glass tile platform with the pattern of a pokeball.

'I guess that it is just like the other rooms.' Guessed Erica. With that knowledge, she stepped on the tile and was teleported to the room of the champion.

The room had decoratively tinted windows and nice curtains all around the sides. Once Erica continued to walk to the center, she found a familiar face. A face that she had not seen in a while.

"D-Diantha?" Stuttered the blond teenager. In return to that stuttering the movie actress chuckled at her challenger's surprise.

"Hello Erica. It has been a while, hasn't it?" Questioned the raven haired beauty. Her challenger needed to take a few moments to pull herself together before she could answer.

"Yes it has." Answered the blond with a laugh.

"And this is one big surprise. No offense, but how in the world would I have ever known that you would be the champion?" Diantha felt it right to laugh with Erica, and to shed some light on that little mystery.

"You couldn't have known. It is only given out to the league of the region that the champion is reigning over." With that knowledge the blond could easily figure out that her friend's couldn't have known it.

The champion took in a breath of air as she looked up, recalling when she took on the challenge that the girl in front of her was taking part in.

"I remember when I challenged the pokemon league, and I can tell you that it wasn't easy."

Almost as if Erica could read her opponent's mind, her face grew serious as she understood what that meant. The coming battle would be one of the toughest in her life.

"So, you are saying that this will be my toughest challenge yet?"

"Oh, I can guarantee it." Diantha pulled out a pokeball from her purse. And the Erica did the same.

The blond took a deep breath as she concentrated on the challenge, and focused on her previous victories. Even though they were beyond her, Erica's bonds with her friends didn't let her down.

"I, Erica Tamashii challenge the champion!"

"And I accept!"

Both pokeballs were launched and both of them began the battle. Diantha's first pokemon was the pumpkin pokemon that had creepy tendencies and evolved from Pumpkaboo, Gourgeist. Erica sent out her trusty electric giraffe, Laxus.

"Gourgeist, use razor leaf." The walking pumpkin swirled up a mass of leaves assaulted Laxus, causing him to curl up in defense.

"Laxus, use discharge!" The electricity dispersed from the pokemon and stopped all the leaves in mid air, giving time for a counterattack.

"And now use dragon pulse." The dragonic energy soared from Laxus and impacted against Gourgeist in the head.

However, the ghost pumpkin took the hit surprisingly well. Both Erica and her Ampharos were surprised at the durability of this pokemon. The champion caught on to this shock and exploited it.

"Attack with shadow claw." Gourgeist jumped forward and slashed with hair-like arms. Laxus stumbled back because of the last attack landing a critical hit.

Erica had no choice but to retrieve Laxus. She was at the disadvantage of electric being ineffective to grass. The blond sent out the ninja frog to defeat Gourgeist.

"Use ice beam." Commanded Erica.

"Use phantom force." The ghost-grass pokemon vanished before the beam could hit it. Jirai grew a look of surprise as she and her pokemon looked around for Gourgeist.

Diantha smirked. "Now use trick-or-treat." Suddenly, the missing pokemon appeared behind Jirai and unleashed spectral illusions around him.

The challenger became nervous at how difficult this battle was becoming. Her nervousness lifted as she noticed that her pokemon had not taken any damage from that last attack.

"Now shadow ball." Gourgeist charged up the ghost energy and impacted it against Jirai, he was pushed back as the attack dealt more damage than it should've.

That was enough to make the blond do a double take as she couldn't see any signs of a critical hit. Jirai's dark typing shouldn't have even let that last attack hit with normal damage.

"How did that happen? Jirai is a dark type."

"The move trick-or-treat changes a pokemon into a ghost type." Diantha turned to her partner that was waiting patiently to attack again.

"Gourgeist, use phantom force again ." Once again, the ghost-grass type vanished instantly. Erica quickly caught onto her opponent's tactic to damage this time, and she instantly worked up a counter strategy.

"Jirai, use double team." The ninja frog multiplied to make it impossible to tell who was the original. Gourgeist popped out of its pocket dimensionn to attack, but it missed as its fist fazed through the clone.

"And now, dark pulse!" The clone to the right of the Gourgeist slammed his fist against the ground and unleashed the dark energy, defeating the pokemon in the process.

As the clones disappeared, Erica noticed her pokemon's weakened state and called him back. The champion also recalled her defeated pokemon, and she felt it necessary to complement her opponent.

"You've improved a lot since I first met you." Noted Diantha.

"Thank you." Said Erica.

The actress threw out her next pocket creature. Erica was surprised to see that it was a Hawlucha. She didn't expect the champion to have this kind of pokemon on her. But then again she really didn't expect a Gourgeist either.

'A flying type, then electricity is the best counterattack.' The challenger sent her Ampharos back out onto the field. She knew that even though he was in a pinch Laxus wasn't going to give in.

"Hawlucha, use swords dance." The masked wrestler danced around like a warrior, raising her attack stat. Instead of setting up for a bigger attack, the challenger chose to go straight for it.

"Laxus, use discharge."

"Flying press." Hawlucha jumped up high, even higher than the wave of electricity that almost hit her. Both Laxus and his trainer were caught off guard at this sudden tactic.

"Nani!?" The flying-fighting type picked up speed as it flew down and impacted against the Ampharos. The attack was very effective and caused Laxus to stumble around with dizzy eyes. In a panic, Erica rushed in to help her pokemon.

"Finish it off with acrobatics." The hawk wrestler jumped up against the wall and jetted herself towards Laxus. The electric type stopped spinning in time to push his trainer out of the way.

Laxus was pushed into the wall. As Hawlucha got off, her trainer failed to notice the electricity that was sparking off of his leg. The blond ran over and noticed her pokemon smirking despite his defeat.

'You wouldn't let your pride endanger me.' Thought Erica as she reluctantly called back her defeated pokemon. She looked back towards Diantha and her pokemon.

'This is one heck of a difficult challenge.' She knew that the challenge wasn't going to be easy, but this was harder than she could've anticipated.

Erica's expression shifted to slight curiosity as she noticed a bit of electricity on Hawlucha's leg. A confident smile had found its way across the trainer's face as she threw out the pokeball that contained Phoenix.

'Flying versus flying, huh?' Thought the actress. "Hawlucha, use sky attack."

The wings on Hawlucha started to glow slowly as she huddled them close. That curled up stance gave time for Phoenix to attack.

"Phoenix, use flame charge." Phoenix collided against the brawling bird, sending her backwards.

As the Hawlucha was knocked back she tried to keep her stance for the attack. She opened her arms and two masses of energy shaped like wings soared and hit Phoenix, hard.

"Now, use sky attack again." Hawlucha started to repeat its previous attack since Diantha knew that none of the other attacks would succeed in doing anything.

"Don't give it a chance! Use flamethrower!" The fire flying pokemon spat out fire from her beak.

"Spread out your wings." Commanded the champion. Hawlucha opened her wing cape a little to allow herself to float away with the effect of rising heat.

"And hit her with sky attack." For some reason though, Hawlucha didn't attack. "What's wrong?" It was then that Diantha noticed her pokemon's paralysis.

Erica took advantage of this opening. "Use fire blast." Phoenix shot out a flame that formed the kanji symbol for fire.

Once the attack impacted, it defeated the opponent. Diantha reached for two pokeballs from her purse and retrieved her defeated luchador.

Erica noticed how beat up her old friend was, and thus she retrieved Phoenix.

"I'm very surprised, it seems that you picked up a lot from the Blazing Fighter." Erica gave a look of question at that title. Diantha was a little surprised that her friend had no idea of who that was.

"I mean Brett Tairyoku." The pieces clicked together in the blond's head as she realized what her opponent was talking about.

'That name seems fitting.' Thought Erica as she realized that she and her pokemon did pick up some kind of tenacity.

"Well, I didn't inherit his stupidity."

Diantha chuckled and threw out the second pokemon. An ancient pokemon that much to closely resembled Tyrannosaurus Rex (even though it really isn't based off it). The evolved form of Tyrunt, Tyrantrum.

Erica shrunk a little at the sheer stature of the pokemon. She looked around carefully to find a weak point. Tyrantrum's size seemed to stick out to her as she pulled out a pokeball and sent out Psyedge.

'Erica-sama, I'll defeat this dragon for you.'

'Thank you.'

"Use dragon claw."

"Counter with power-up-punch." The two attacks collided and knocked away the air despite the fact that Tyrantrum had those tiny arms.

"Earthquake." The dinosaur dragon slammed its tail against the ground, causing the ground to move about and heavily damage Psyedge.

"Use calm mind." Psyedge clasped the edge of his hands and closed his eyes for a calm state of mind. The champion decided that this was a perfect opportunity.

"Use your crunch attack." Tyrantrum charged forward and bit down on its opponent. The rock dragon then thrashed about with the sword fighter in his jaw till the fighter was flung into the wall.

Psyedge slid down the wall and groaned in pain. Erica could hear this and felt bad for how the Gallade had to endure such a harsh attack. She decided to give him so kind of comfort.

'Psyedge...I believe in you.'

'And...I believe in...your choice...Erica-sama.' That mental choice of words struck a chord with the teenage trainer, as she was now scanning the dinosaur for some kind of physical weakness.

'There has to be a weak point to balance out that bulk.' It was then that she had an epiphany of how to take down this giant lizard.

Erica looked back at her pokemon, who nodded as he understood what to do as well. Both turned back to the opposing team sharing the same determined look.

"Psyedge, charge in!" The pyschic-fighting type ran towards the massive enemy. The actress turned towards he dinosaur who nodded as he leaned his head in for another crunch attack.

"Duck and roll!" Moments away from being chomped down on, Psyedge managed to avoid the jaws of Tyrantrum.

"Now use pyscho cut and power-up-punch." The Gallade aimed up and attacked the dino's weak point, his stomach.

The attacks were strong enough to defeat the pokemon. But the enemy wasn't about to give up yet. "Use dragon claw."

Tyrantrum aimed its claw low and struck Psyedge in the head, knocking him out in the process. It was a double knockout. The blond ran over to her pokemon and helped him up.

'Thank you. You did your best.'

'As a knight should.' Both trainers were forced to retrieve their pokemon.

Diantha sent out her Aurorus as her next pokemon. The sight of that dinosaur easily caught Erica's attention.

"Just like Brett." Whispered Erica.

"What?" Diantha couldn't quite hear what Erica had said so she had to ask.

"Nothing." The next pokemon on Team Erica was Dragulong. "Use surf!"

The seaweed pokemon generated a giant wave that knocked the dinosaur on the ground. Erica quickly calculated a strategy that would end this as Aurorus pulled himself back up.

"Use hydro pump." The dragon spout of a geyser to defeat the ice-rock type.

"Quick, use blizzard!" Aurorus called forth a giant wave of cold air that froze the jet stream before it could reach him.

"Use light screen and reflect." Light started to shine from the sails of the ancient pokemon as he increased his defenses.

"Use camouflage." The poison pokemon blended in with the surrounding colors to sneak up on its opponent.

Diantha and her pokemon searched hard to pick up the slightest hint of change in the environment. It was then that Diantha noticed something near the side of her pokemon.

"Use blizzard!" The sauropod repeated its previous attack, but this time it exerted the cold air around itself.

It was then that the camouflage wore off, and Dragulong collapsed from the attack, but he managed to leave some poison behind. Erica quickly recalled her pokemon.

She then sent out her trusty fire bird. It seemed like a good offensive strategy to defeat ice with fire. "Planning to defeat me with fire, huh?"

'Does she have a counter strategy?' The blond protagonist grew a little nervous at the fact that this champion could counter anything that she takes. But none the less, she strove for victory.

"Use flame charge." Phoenix charged in to impact the ice type. It was then that Erica noticed something a little too late, electricity charging in the sails.

"Use thunder." Electricity surged along the sails of Aurorus and shocked the Talonflame, forcing her to fall to the ground.

Phoenix was struggling to get back up. It was if both trainer and pokemon were sharing the spirit of tenacity because Erica had not displayed much surprise from the last attack. She hadn't given in at all.

"Use flame charge one last time!" Phoenix followed through obediently, though she charged on the ground instead of flying.

The impact of the attack knocked the ancient pokemon back a little. Unfortunately, Erica's pokemon was defeated from the loss of energy. Aurorus struggled to get back up, but it too fell down to the ground.

Diantha's face grew in surprise of what had just happened. "But how?"

"Dragulong used the attack toxic on the lower half of Aurorus before he fainted, so it was slowing losing health from its lower body." Explained the blond as she retrieved her Talonflame.

Diantha sighed while she pulled back her pokemon. She could feel the intensity coming from the battle. Her next pokemon slammed down onto the ground upon entry. It was a Goodra.

Erica looked at her two remaining pokeballs. Jirai was still weakened from earlier so she decided to use Venus since she still had a lot of health leftover.

She sent out her strongest pokemon. Erica was about to give a command when she considered the enormity of the situation. Instead of giving an attack command, Erica activated the mega ring to stock up defense.

"Use fire blast." Diantha wasted no time in what attack to use. Erica was just lucky that Venus's thick fat was giving her a counter against fire.

"Use earthquake." The grass dinosaur slammed her feet against the ground to attack.

Because of its dragon typing, Goodra didn't take that much damage.

"Attack with dragon pulse." The chubby dragon launched dragonic energy that knocked Venus back a few feet.

"Use your petal blizzard!" Dazzling petals swarmed around and assaulted the sludge dragon, but she stood through the attack.

"Use outrage!" Goodra's eyes glowed red as she rammed into Venus and knocked her back, producing a few shockwaves as a result. The shaking of the ground gave Erica an idea for a counterattack.

"Use earthquake again!" The grass starter slammed the ground to create a few shockwaves as Goodra approached.

"Now jump high!" Venus followed through with her trainer's command and jumped into the air. This both the champion and her dragon at the height of the jump.

"Use double edge!" The Venusaur rammed into Goodra with her added weight from the fall.

The combined force from earthquake, sludge bomb, and Venus's double edge slam successfully defeated Goodra.

Diantha smiled and retrieved her defeated partner. Erica gave a look of question at her opponent. "Why do you seem so happy?"

"It's hard to explain, but it's been so long since I had such an intense battle." Diantha pulled out her final pokeball. "Lets make this a battle for the ages."

Erica instantly understood Diantha's passion in this battle. She nodded and gained the same battle ready expression.

Diantha sent out the naturally evolved form of Kirlia. The graceful dancer, Gardevoir. No sooner than the releasing of her final pokemon did Diantha activate her mega charm.

But unlike other activations Diantha was able to trigger the mega evolution by thought, so she didn't touch the keystone. Gardevoir started to glow in resonance with the mega charm.

It was then that Gardevoir mega evolved. She now greatly resembled a ball-room dancer with a bigger skirt, gloved hands, and her face now bore a look similar to that of a mask.

'This isn't gonna be easy.' Thought the protagonist. "Use petal blizzard!" Yelled Erica, not wasting any time.

"Counter with your telekinesis." Retorted Diantha quickly. Gardevoir nodded and expanded her psychic power to stop the blizzard in mid air.

Both the challenger and her pokemon were shocked at this sudden counter. But the challenger quickly regained her composure, and her wits.

"Use your sludge bomb!" Venusaur's cheeks puffed up as it launched the toxic attack.

"Use shadow ball." The dancer put her hands together and launched a ball of spectral energy that detonated the bomb.

"Use earthquake!" Venus's last resort was to use the ground as a weapon, which appeared successful at first.

"Psychic!" The masquerade dancer's eyes glowed and it inflicted a lot of damage towards venus. In fact, enough to defeat the mega evolved pokemon.

Erica showed a face of surprise. She retrieved Venus. She looked down at the ground. Suddenly, Erica could feel some sort of shaking from her pokeball. Taking it off of her belt, she could feel Jirai telling her not to give up in the slightest. She tossed the pokeball and released her partner for this final bout. The two looked towards each other.

"Don't worry, I haven't given up yet."

Looking back at her opponent, Erica quickly searched her mind for any strategies that could help. 'Gardevoir doesn't have any weak points, but if I could maybe...'

"Quickly, combine water shuriken with ice beam!" The ninja unleashed his combination attack towards his mega-evolved opponent.

"Use thunderbolt on the ice shurikens!" The dancer unleashed a bolt of electricity onto the attack, resulting in a rain of sparkling light and the destruction of the attack.

"Quickly use shadow sneak!" The Greninja dove into the shadow and appeared behind Gardevoir to attack. But Diantha was ready for this. Her pokemon read her thoughts too as she created a focus blast. Jirai jumped out the way just in time.

"Now use ice beam!" Jirai shot a beam of its energy that froze gardevoir's hands. Erica started to feel a lot more confident as the psychic-fairy type could no longer use moonblast or shadow ball without moving her hands

Diantha couldn't help but smile at how intense this battle was progressing. She was grateful that she could take part with her pokemon in such an intense battle.

She turned towards her partner, who nodded in response. Gardevoir looked towards the Greninja, who was a little confused.

And suddenly, Gardevoir let out a deafening cry. Erica was forced to cover her ears. Unfortunately Jirai was forced to take the hit. Once the cry had dissipated, Erica immediately took notice of her pokemon. That last hit dealt a lot of damage.

"Oh no..." The blond challenger ran up to her pokemon. The two shared a spark of understanding as she tried to help him up.

Erica's face grew serious, and she walked backwards a few steps. "Use bubblebeam!"

The ninja frog blew out the giant bubbles and ran forward. "Now jump into one of them."

"Gardevoir, use thunderbolt again!"

"Use shadow sneak to dodge." Jirai sunk into his shadow and avoided the electricity. The ninja frog jumped up into the highest bubble, and it started to accelerated down towards Gardevoir. "Bubble bump!"

"Thunderbolt!" The fairy summoned a thunderbolt that came down and struck the bubble. The Greninja fell to the ground...

...and suddenly vanished. Diantha gasped at the sudden trick. Erica smirked at this opportunity. "And use dark pulse!"

Jirai came from out of Gardevoir's shadow and used dark pulse on her. Both pokemon collapsed to the floor. And Jirai struggled to get back up for its trainer.

...Congratulations to Erica Tamashii. She is now the Champion of Kalos.

"You did a great job." Whispered Erica as she returned Jirai into his pokeball. She looked back to Diantha, who was looking down at the palm of her hand.

"I don't know how to express this feeling." Said Diantha as she looked up to the victor. "I guess that I'm just glad to usher in a new champion."

Erica smiled and closed her eyes. "I'm happy that I got to have this battle. That I got to do it with my friends."

The former placed her hand on the shoulder of the new champion. "Well said. Now lets get you registered into the Hall of Fame."

The two walked into a door that led them into a dimly lit room. It was decorated with many golden tiles. Towards the end of it was a machine with six slots and a monitor. There were also eight slots that were strangely shaped.

Keith and Brett were waiting for Erica.

"You did wonderful." Commented Keith.

"We're very proud of you." Said Brett.

Erica blushed and scratched the back of her head. "Thank you very much."

Both helped her up to the machine. Erica turned back with a look of question. "What do I do?"

"Put your gym badges into the slots." She turned back and placed her badges into all of the slots. The slots flipped over and a panel folded out with a golden crest in it. The crest was shaped like a shield with wings that sheathed a sword, and the center had a myriad of colors in it.

"That is proof of you being a champion." Explained Diantha as she walked up to Erica, the blond turned to her. "Now you put you pokeballs in to have our match registered."

Erica turned back to the machine and took out all the pokeballs of her partners that stayed with her throughout her journey. She took a few moments to look down to them all.

'Dragulong, Laxus, Psyedge, Phoenix, Venus, and Jirai.'

The machine beeped to confirm all the data.

'...Thank you all...'

Thank you for reading this chapter, I hoped you liked it. If you have anything that you would like to say about the chapter or the story, feel free to leave a guest review. So Erica has defeated Diantha and become crowned as a champion. Does that mean that the story is over?...By no means! In the next chapter, Erica will return to Lumiose city to celebrate her accomplishments and to face off against an ancient face.


	34. Chapter 34

Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon. But I do own a couple of moons from Feigna, not that it matters.

"Speech"

'Thought'

After Erica had been declared the new champion of Kalos, she promptly returned to her home town to see her mother and her neighbors. When she came there, a neighborhood party was held for the girl.

Her mother had heard the news before hand and decided that it would be best to hold a party for the successful trainer. Family members, neighbors, even Shauna, Trevor, and Tierno were all there.

The party went on for several hours before Erica crashed into her bed. She was exhausted from all that fun, and so were her pokemon. Putting all the pokeballs on the dresser, the blond could easily tell that her friends were tired.

"Thank you so much everyone." Whispered the teenager.

After the party, Brett and Keith had excused themselves to explore Kalos for the time being. They promised Erica that they would be back the next morning to take her to Lumiose city. Because tomorrow, Erica and her friends would walk down a red carpet for their efforts against Team Flare.

"To be honest, I'm not too sure that I want all that attention." Whispered the blond to herself as she changed into a t-shirt and a pair of shorts to sleep in.

Since everyone else in the household was already asleep, Erica decided that maybe it was time for her to turn in for the night as well. As she sat down on her bed, she couldn't help but admire the medallion that she earned. She held up the rare stone from Shalour bay with it.

'These look so pretty together.' Though the blond. Curiosity struck her mind as she wondered what the medallions from the other champions looked like, she decided it might be better to ask them later.

The following day, the ceremony was held in Lumiose city. Erica and her friends gathered as the star attractions for stopping Team Flare from destroying the world.

As the crowd watched Erica, Shauna, Trevor, and Tierno walked across the giant red carpet, they continuously cheered. At the end, Professor Sycamore along with his assistants, and the foreign champions awaited the heroes.

Once they reached the end, the professor handed each of them a badge. It resembled Prism Tower. Erica took the badge and pinned it onto her shirt. Brett and Keith walked over to Erica.

"All these people came out today to celebrate your heroism." Said Keith.

"You've really become a hero, and made a great name for yourself." Commented Brett as he petted Erica on the head. She pushed his hand off with a happy laugh.

"Well, I don't think I would've gotten this far without you two." Thanked Erica.

Amongst the giant crowd stood AZ, he watched the person who tried to teach him about forgiveness. Silently, he walked closer to her. It seemed almost too strange that nobody was paying him any attention, or stopping him.

As he came closer, Erica caught attention of him. Her face grew from cheery to surprise. In all truthfulness, she never expected to see him ever again.

"Battle me..." Demanded AZ silently. Erica walked closer towards him with her face now bearing a serious look.

"Give me a reason." Demanded the blond in return.

The two seemed to stare down for a few seconds. However, the giant gave in to her demand.

"I want to know what a trainer is..." Erica tried to keep her serious face, but she smiled and shook her head. She pulled out five of her pokeballs and handed them to her friends.

"Alright then, I accept your challenge." She threw out the pokeball that contained Venus.

Moments after releasing her pokemon, Erica mega evolved the green dinosaur. This time however, instead of touching the mega stone Erica was able to activate it with her thoughts. Off to the side, Brett and Keith shared the same interested look.

Despite the phenomenon he just witnessed, AZ didn't appear fazed in the slightest of ways. He reached into his bag and threw out a Torkoal.

"Use bulldoze." Venus slammed the ground, easily defeating the fire tortoise. At first, Erica thought that she just got lucky with that first hit.

The silent man threw out another pokeball, this time containing a Golurk.

"Use petal blizzard." The colored petals assaulted the stone giant, easily defeating it. This time the heroine realized why the other pokemon were not putting up much of a fight.

AZ pulled out one final pokeball and sent out a Sigilyph.

"And finish with double edge." The dinosaur surprisingly leaped into the air and slammed the pyschic-flying type.

Erica retrieved her pokemon and turned back to face AZ.

"That's what a trainer is, more than that, its what a person is. Taking on your mistakes and learning from them. You wanted to lose, did you AZ?" As an answer, the giant smiled and nodded.

"Yes. I thought that if I kept wandering like this I would never know what a bond is." He looked back to the crowd around them as he surveyed them. "You seemed to portray hope because of your friends and partners." He turned back to the champion with a happy smile.

"Thank you. I am now free. Free from that part of me mired with sorrow."

He then looked up to the sky and noticed as a pokemon started descending. Erica looked up in the same direction as he did. The pokemon that was descending was a Floette, but it looked different than others. It was blue and red and had a magnificent flower.

AZ watched as the pokemon came closer into view, and his face started to come into shock. The Floette came down to him, and the silent giant started to fall to his knees as he tried to catch the fairy.

"Floette...it's been three thousand years..."

Brett and Keith walked up to Erica. She turned back to them with a very happy and grateful smile, because she knew exactly how this came to be.

"I think that his pokemon was waiting for him to return to being the man he was before the war." Explained the girl as she turned back to the reunion.

The setting was so beautiful, it seemed as if the world could forget all hatred and sadness for this one day, for this one moment. Erica could feel her soul illuminate with happiness. Her soul and determination had succeeded in defeating a despair of three thousand years.

The city of Lumiose spent the next couple of hours celebrating in the safety of Kalos. Because of all the special cake contests, dances, and kids plastering Magikarp cut-outs on peoples backs, there was a lot of fun to be had. Erica couldn't help but take part in with all the fun.

Despite it being fun the time moved against the festivities. When it was time to move on, Erica decided to move down the route south outside of Lumiose. Brett and Keith were trekking with her.

"You did a great thing back there Erica." Commented Keith. Erica couldn't help but blush at her teacher's comment.

"Even more than just helping AZ forgive himself, you showed great skill." Continued the brown haired boy. The blond turned around with a happily surprised face.

"You really think so?" He smiled and nodded.

"You really did do well out there. Speaking of which, how did you pull off that mega evolution?" Asked Brett. Shrugging her shoulders and giving a sheepish smile was the best response that Erica could give.

"It is just something that comes naturally, I guess. What exactly are you two going to do now?" Asked the blond. She was able to ask that because she had been able to take on challenges without her friends being right behind her.

She had grown past her fear of being alone.

"There are several things about Kalos that I'd like to research before I return to Kanto." Answered Keith as he did his signature glasses push up.

"And I guess that I'll do a little adventuring. Maybe a battle, or a hundred before I head back to Johto." Stated Brett as he looked off to the side. After hearing that, another question came to Erica.

"Say, how much longer do you guys have here before you have to go back to your regions?" Keith cupped his chin and looked up to the sky to figure out the answer.

"I'd say about a month at best. Right?" He turned over to his rival who nodded in return. That news came harder than expected to Erica, that meant that she only had so much longer that she could meet with these two before they had to go back.

She would still get a chance to meet with them every once in a while, but saying goodbye still hurt badly.

Memories of times that she had to spend with her friends on this journey started to come to her. No sooner than that did she remember when Keith curbstomped her. But as Erica remembered that battle, she also remembered how sad she felt about losing so bad.

'That was such a bad loss.' Thought Erica. The female trainer was suddenly very confident in herself. The reason was because even when odds where stacked against her, her spirit never gave in.

An overwhelming desire started to form inside Erica. Even though she couldn't figure out what the driving force was, she knew that this was the desire to become better than what she was at the moment. She turned around and faced Brett with a pokeball in her hand.

"Brett, I challenge you."

Keith showed surprise, and apparently so did Brett. The black haired boy cleaned out his ear and repositioned it to hear her.

"Come again, did you say that you want to battle me?" Asked Brett comically.

"Yes I did. A one-on-one mega battle." Answered the blond.

Brett gave off his battle thirsty smile. He pulled out Tyco's pokeball. "Very well. I, The Blazing Fighter, accept your challenge!"

Keith took this opportunity to back away for his own safety. Both trainers released their Kanto starters and mega evolved them. The blond succeeded in repeating her trick from earlier while the black haired boy had to use the classic method.

"Venus, use leech seed!"

"Tyco, use dark pulse." The giant turtle launched the dark energy circle that knocked away the seeds before they could land on him.

Erica's confidence started to dull away. "Quick, use petal blizzard!"

A tornado spun around and caught the Blastoise in it. When the flower petals blew away, the closed up the shell of the pokemon was shown.

'It used protect.' Thought Erica as Tyco unfolded out of it.

"Use sludge bomb." Venus launched the poisonous bomb from its mouth.

"Counter with water pulse." The blastoise launched rings of water and destroyed the giant bomb.

"Now topple that Venusaur over!" Tyco spun forward and pushed Venus on her side. Erica didn't react fast enough, which cost her the battle.

"Hit'em with ice beam, water pulse, and dark pulse!" The water type launched three different attacks, each one from a different cannon. As the attacks closed in and caused an explosion. Erica was so caught off by the explosion that she stumbled back, and from her pocket her rare stone fell out.

Venus was defeated and Erica had lost. Erica regretfully retrieved her defeated pokemon.

'I still can't win against them...even after all this.' Thought the protagonist as she looked to the ground glumly.

Brett was happy about his victory, but as he saw the sadness that was plastered on the face of his opponent he knew that he needed to help her.

"You're not just gonna let this get you down, are you?" Asked the Johto champion as he walked over. That question didn't do much to help her out, but she could feel that same feeling from earlier, like she hadn't given up yet. The Kanto Champion walked over and decided to vouch in this.

"I know that your tenacity hasn't let you slump down and give up." That word suddenly gave her the answer that she needed. A tenacious spirit had been pushing her not to give up, that's what drove her to battle against Brett. Her expression cheered up as her resolve cleared up.

"I'm not going to let this get me down. I'm going to spend some time training personally. I promise that when we meet back again, I'll be even better." She reached down and picked up her rare orb.

"How long are you going to train?" Asked Keith.

"I don't know, but I'm sure that it'll be over with before you two have to leave." Answered the blond as she turned back to face them. Both of the trainers gave her a nod of affirmation. She returned it with a promising smile.

Erica turned in the opposite direction to separate from them and started to trek away. As the champion continued to walk away, she looked down at the orb and her champion medallion in her other hand.

'...Yeah...it's a promise...'

Thank you for reading this chapter, I hoped that you liked it. If you have something that you would like to say about the chapter or the story in general, feel free to leave a guest review. In the next chapter, Erica reunites with her friends after two months of training.


	35. Chapter 35

Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon at all. I have some good shinies, but that's a story for another day.

"Speech"

'Thought'

All dreams start out small, but arise into something giant and unbelievable. To make such things happen, one must believe and give full effort. The events of the journey of Erica Tamashii had many sharp turns and epic battles, but two months ago she decided it best to go on her own training session. So she parted ways with her friends to become stronger on her own.

In Aquacorde town, a teenage girl was sitting outside one of the local cafe. Her eyes were concealed with shades. Boys that walked past couldn't help but give a glance at her. She pulled out a holocaster to check the time, and sighed once she got a look at it.

"They're late." Muttered the girl with a slightly upset tone.

On the north-eastern side of the region was Azure Bay. Across the water was an island that had a cave.

"So this a spring home for them." Whispered Keith as he put away the notebook. He reached down to the sandy beach and picked up a crystal blue feather.

The brown haired protagonist showed a face of slight disappointment. Whilst he analyzed the feather his holocaster started to beep. As he noticed the time he scrambled back to the coastline.

On the opposite of side of Kalos stood Kiloude city. It was a city that was mainly accessible by train. In the center of the small city was the Battle Maison. Brett was currently exiting from it with a lot of laughter.

"Ha ha ha, you can't buy that kind of fun!" Laughed the trainer. After a few moments, he could hear beeping coming from his holocaster. After pulling it out and taking a look at the time, Brett slapped his head.

"But I wish I could buy more time!" Said the trainer as he scrambled to the train station.

Back in Aquacorde town, the young girl continued to wait. Her face was starting to grow impatient. Ironically this irritation brought nostalgia with it. After another minute of waiting, the two champions came running towards the café. But as they ran, they suddenly noticed each other and accidently tripped.

The two kept rolling over till they were right in front of the girl waiting for them. The girl just sat in her chair and gave a little chuckle.

"You're enjoying this a little too much." Stated Keith as he got up and dusted himself off. Brett also got up and felt the need to say something.

"Really though how are you this early, Erica?" The girl took off her sunglasses to reveal herself as Erica Tamashii, the Kalos Champion.

"You'd be surprised how early I like to be." The protagonist walked over to hug her friends. It was a great reunion for her, after two months of not being able to see either of them. The three of them sat down to catch up on things.

"You've changed a lot." Commented Keith as he backed out of the hug.

The blond protagonist had changed her appearance a lot in the last two months. The most notable thing was that she had her hair cut. Now instead of being waist length, her hair didn't even come down to her shoulders. Erica smiled as a thanks and turned to Brett.

"I'm surprised that you were able to recognize me." Noted Erica.

"What would make you think that I wouldn't be able to recognize you?"

"A time in Lumiose when you thought my chest was shrinking." Answered the blond. Her friend could only nervously laugh in response.

All three of them had changed their outfits drastically. Erica now bore an orange midriff top with skinny blue jeans and a beige beret. She ended up keeping the same style of boots for her travels. One could see that she was trying to appear more attractive.

"Guys are going to start coming to you before you know it." Warned Brett. She just laughed a little as a response.

"Well they'd better be ready to deal with all of my strange habits. You guys have changed your outfits too."

Keith now wore a black fedora, black zipped shirt combo along with black chinos and black loafers. He was more than likely trying to appear more civilized.

Brett was going for a more rough look. A gray plaid shirt combo along with some blue lace boots and a black hat seemed to do the trick.

"So why did you cut your hair?" Asked Brett.

"Well, it accidentally got caught up in a trap and I had to cut it. The rest had to be cut for the sake of fashion." Explained Erica as she rubbed the back of her head. Her face seemed to be a little disturbed at the memory of the event.

"But enough of that, how've you two been?" Asked the teenage girl eagerly. The analytical champion put up a happy face in response.

"My research has been progressing better than I ever thought."

"I've been enjoying many battles. And I've caught some cool pokemon." Said the reckless champion with a long nose.

Erica couldn't help but give a very cheerful and grateful smile. It seemed that she very much missed her friends, despite their strange habits. She too had also developed off of these habits for her training.

"I'm proud to say that my training has been very successful. I think I might've even come to the point of surpassing both of you." Perhaps it was the blond who was getting a long nose.

Both champions stood up with faces of amusement. Part of Erica's conscience told her back down. But the prominent side of her brain forced her to get up. Her tenacious soul was firing up. In true trainer fashion, she picked up a pokeball.

"Wanna find out?" Said Erica with a cocky smile. Brett pulled out his pokeball in return.

"I'd like to. But there is somebody else that I want to battle." Answered Brett as he looked to Keith. In response he pushed up his glasses and pulled out a pokeball.

"Challenge accepted."

The three champions approached the Kalos Deadlands. It was apparent that this was the only place in all of Kalos that could take the collateral damage and not have any horribly bad effects.

Even though she didn't want to, Erica stood off to the side as a spectator. The blond really wanted to challenge her friends after all this time, but it would pay off to see a full battle between the two of them. She sat down on a nearby rock.

Brett and Keith took about ten steps to face away from each other.

Both threw out their pokeballs at fast speed. Brett sent out the ceiling clinging steel-grass type, Ferrothorn. Keith sent out the giant automaton from the past, Golurk.

"Use fire punch!" The giant slammed its fiery fist into the thorny pokemon like a junk warrior scrap fist. Brett's pokemon was defeated almost instantly. Both champions were left speechless. Erica gave a nervous smile as the automaton wandered back to its trainer.

'He got lucky with a critical hit.' Thought the female protagonist, she was hoping for more of an intense start off.

"Well, that was unexpected." Noted Keith as he pushed up his glasses.

Brett recalled his pokemon and scratched the back of his head. Obviously he was aiming for something here, he just didn't get to instigate it. The next pokemon that he sent out was a large spider covered in yellow fur, a Galvantula.

"Volt, use your sticky web attack!" The spider launched a web that trapped Golurk underneath, but the giant was still able to move. Keith took chance of this opportunity to attack.

"Use fire punch." Despite being held down by the web, the ghost ground type still succeeded in launching its fist. The fire from Golurk's attack actually ended up burning the sticky web.

"Counter with energy ball!" The Galvantula launched an eco friendly attack that struck the giant's fist, but was no where near strong enough stop the attack.

After the punch hit Volt was kneeling on the ground. Golurk walked back over to its trainer before collapsing to the ground with a thud. Keith couldn't help but show a face of slight intrigue. His opponent gave an all-too-confident smirk.

The spectator also smiled as she also caught onto the Johto champion's strategy.

'The iron barbs and rocky helmet from the Ferrothorn dealt some damage earlier.' She turned to notice a red sash drop from the spider. 'And Volt held on by using the focus sash to hold on by a thread.'

The Kanto champion had no choice but to return his pokemon and sighed. He couldn't help but feel a little upset that Brett was able to outsmart him even for a second.

"I guess that my skills a getting just a little too rusty."

"Maybe your research is getting in the way." Suggested Brett as he retrieved his pokemon.

"As if." Retorted Keith as he sent out a Sigilyph. In response Brett sent out the flying scorpion, Gliscor.

"Megop, use toxic." The flying scorpion pokemon glided over and jabbed his stinger into the Nazca line pokemon's torso.

But despite the direct hit from the attack, Sigilyph remained unharmed. Brett was more than a little surprised at what had just happened. Erica was also interested as she looked closer to see what had caused this. Cupping her chin, she looked further to see that his side was burnt.

'Since that pokemon is already burned, he can't be poisoned. And knowing Keith, his pokemon has a failsafe for being burnt up like that.'

"Symvolara, use cosmic power." Astral energy circulated around Keith's pokemon, raising its defense and special defense.

"Megop, use substitute." Brett couldn't catch onto what his rival was attempting, so he chose to setup. A Gliscor doll came in the place of Megop while the original hid away. As the flying-ground type escaped, Erica noticed that it held a purple orb, a toxic orb.

"Self poisoning, so that's how this works. His pokemon is using poison heal to recover health points while substitute and protect to create a wall." Noted the female champion as she watched on.

"Use protect." Brett immediately expected some kind of counter attack, so he was preparing for it.

"Cosmic power." The tactic seemed odd as Keith didn't try to make any offensive steps. The black haired champion was giving a dumbfounded face, before it shifted to panic. He retrieved the Gliscor and sent Volt back out.

Keith also grew a face of panic. He was about to switch to the offensive, but his rival was too fast.

"Use thunder!" The spider conjured up all his energy and summoned a massive bolt of lightning that struck the Sigilyph with a critical hit. Symvolara slowly fell back to the ground.

The brown haired champion was a little upset at the speed. Erica sat back on her boulder with a face of slight amusement.

"This should be a treat." Whispered the girl.

Keith pulled back Symvolara and pulled out his next pokeball. The pokemon that came out of it was the pink and adorable Blissey. Brett was once again shocked at the appearance of this pokemon. He wasn't shocked by the appearance of it, but because he knew what it was capable of.

"Use thunder again!" Volt launched the bolt that Blissey was forced to take. The pink cutie squinted its eyes, but the attack barely did any damage towards this pokemon.

"Use seismic toss." In a funny manner, Blissey ran towards the Galvantula and tossed him into the air. As Volt came back down to the ground, he was flailing his legs around before he even hit the ground.

Brett sighed in exhaustion, he retrieved his pokemon before hitting the ground. Apparently, the electric type had fainted one second before hitting.

The blazing fighter decided to put his blazing spirit to the side for the sake of victory. Megop was sent back out into the battlefield.

"I know what you're up to." Keith quickly pulled his pokemon back in exchange for a rather strange pokemon. It was the blob pokemon, Muk. But instead of being a dark purple, it was a dark green.

Erica was slightly surprised at the appearance of a shiny pokemon. Keith gave a very confident smile.

"Use substitute." Commanded Brett calmly.

"Use curse." The blob use an intriguing move to lower his agility to increase offense and defense.

"Earthquake." The flying scorpion body slammed the ground to create a damaging attack. Erica was forced to grab the stone as the Muk was defeated all to easily. Brett scowled a little.

"Come on! You're better than that!" Complained Brett. Keith looked up from his pokedex.

"Sorry, what was that?"

Brett gritted his teeth with a frustrated smile. "You're getting awfully confident, aren't you?"

"Why yes I am." The analytical champion retrieved his pokemon and sent out the cute water mouse bunny, Azumarill.

Erica blushed and clapped her hands together. "Aw, kawaii." Two months of training hadn't done anything for that apparently.

However, the Blazing Fighter couldn't help but fall on his butt laughing. The Golden Fighter's confident face curved into an angry smile.

"Belly drum." The adorable pokemon bounced her belly which maximized her attack. Brett stopped laughing and his face grew wary as he knew the tactic his opponent was leaning on.

"Aqua jet!" Azumarill rode along her jet stream of water to impact and destroy the Gliscor substitute instantly.

"Use toxic!" Megop flew back in and tried to sting the opponent. But the water-fairy type used her aqua jet to move around the attack.

"Use aqua jet again."

Azumarill once again rode along a jet stream of water to impact the flying-ground type. Megop fell to the ground and fainted. But not before stinging the water mouse bunny in the back, poisoning her.

'Azumarill must have the ability huge power, its attack is massive as it was maximized by the belly drum tactic. Keith's tactics are interesting.' Thought the spectator.

Brett retrieved his pokemon and sent out the water serpent of beauty, Milotic. The blond heroine looked with gleaming eyes. She immediately knew that she had to capture that kind of pokemon when she would get the chance.

Keith knew that this pokemon would be nearly immune to the aqua jet attack, so he chose a different strategy to go about defeating this pokemon.

"Use play rough." The mouse ran full force towards her opponent. But the opponent used her serpentine body to dodge.

"Melody, use confuse ray." Melody turned back to face her opponent and launched a shining beam to make Azumarill very dizzy and confused.

"Use play rough again." Commanded Keith, but his pokemon unfortunately hit herself in confusion. Now isn't that a bit of a funny picture?

"Ice beam." The Milotic launched the beam of cold energy onto the mouse bunny. Azumarill stumbled back before falling down, defeated.

Erica tilted her head in confusion before snapping her fingers. 'He didn't need a critical hit, belly drum had cut Azumarill's health points in half in exchange for the attack. Along with the hit from confusion and the poisoning defeated Azumarill.'

Keith returned his pokemon and sent his Blissey back out. "Use toxic."

Blissey threw a ball of sludge that poisoned Melody. "Quickly use ice beam."

The water type repeated its previous attack in an attempt to gain a foothold. But sadly, it barely did anything to this pink pocket monster.

"Use softboiled." The pink pokemon picked up its egg and began eating it to regain health before a new egg somehow appeared in place of the old one.

"Use confuse ray." Melody launched the shining beam again, but Blissey used her round body to roll out of the way. Keith decided to finish it.

"Seismic toss." Blissey ran up to Melody and launched her into the air. When the serpent landed back to the ground, she had fainted from the poison attack.

'Damn luck.' Thought Brett as he retrieved his pokemon. His next pokemon was the purple rabbit rhino titan, Nidoking.

"Bud, use ice beam." The purple pokemon shot the cold attack, but this time it was stronger than the other ice beams from before. It knocked the pink pokemon rolling back a few feet.

Erica continued to watch from the side and she got a a little curious about how the attack was stronger than the others. She instantly started thinking of how that was possible.

'And I thought that Nidokings were more physical fighters than special, it must be using an ability that allows it to increase the power. But there must be some kind of price to pay.' Thought the blond as she cupped her chin.

"Use seismic toss." Blissey ran over and surprisingly lifted the 136 pound pokemon with tiny arms, and launched Bud into the air. When he came back, he came down hard. Even without a critical hit it was a lot of damage. Apparently the purple bunny rhino was low on defense.

"Repeat your seismic toss." The pink cutie once again created the miracle of sending a giant flying in the air again. But this time, Brett was ready for this. Both trainer and pokemon shared a smirk despite the situation.

"Use earth power!" The Nidoking reached for the ground as it fell. And suddenly the ground around Blissey sprang up, sending her into the air.

Seconds after being sent a few feet into the air, she collided with Bud as the two impacted into the ground. The blond spectator had to break her composure a little as she looked at the defeated two pocket monsters.

Both champions remained unfazed and both kept serious and determined faces as they readied themselves for the final bout. Brett sent out a the dark dog that predicts , Absol. Keith sent out a pokemon that Erica immediately recognized, Ampharos.

The mega rings on both foreign champions started to glow, they had learned how to activate it by mind. Absol and Ampharos started to glow in unison as they mega evolved.

Absol and Ampharos began to shine brightly, the energy forced them to mega evolve. Absol's appearance was now sharper, more spikes across its body complete with wings. Ampharos was now more of a dragon, decorated with a white tail and mane that contained red pearls.

"Thor, use Dragon pulse!" The dragonic blast launched towards the mega evolved dark type.

"Shugo, dodge and counter with night slash!" The Absol dodged around the blast and used his left paw to slash the Ampharos.

"Attack with focus blast!" Thor launched his bright orange blast.

"Quickly, jump and use play rough." The black and white dog once again jumped up and dived to impact against the electric-dragon type. Keith flinched a little as he realized how much damage that would mean for Thor.

But he missed and hit the ground. The brown haired champion and his pokemon couldn't help but laugh a little, angering the opposing side. However, this gave way for an opening.

"Shugo, use play rough again!" Keith stopped his laughter as Thor took a blow to the gut.

Even though the Ampharos had taken more damage, it would only take one hit from that focus blast to knock out Shugo. Both Keith and Brett gave each other competitive glares. As she stood off to the side, Erica could literally feel the intensity. She was anxious to see how this would fold out. Anxious to see who would win and how.

"And again!"

"Focus blast!"

The orange blast made contact with the Absol, but that didn't completely stop Shugo as he continued through and made contact with his opponent. Thor was caught up in an explosion from his own attack.

The Kalos champion got off of her seat to see who had won, because the smoke from the explosion didn't clear fast enough. What she found was that the Ampharos was standing over the defeated Absol.

"You won, I lost." Admitted Brett as he laid down on his back.

"That was an amazing battle." Commented Erica as she helped Brett up.

The Johto Champion sighed in defeat. But at the same time, he seemed happy. Happy that the battle went on in such a powerful fashion. Erica turned to Keith who petted his pokemon before returning it.

Reaching into her bag, the protagonist pulled out a great ball. Taking a look at it, she could feel her tenacious spirit tugging at her desires. She sighed before turning to face both Brett and Keith.

"I have an important request." Stated Erica.

Thank you for reading this chapter, I hoped you liked it. If you have anything that you'd like to say about the chapter or the story in general, please say so in a guest review. So Erica has a request, a desire that she has been longing to fulfill for a long time. The next chapter is the finale as Erica takes on one more challenge.


	36. Chapter 36

Disclaimer: I don't own Pokémon in any way.

"Speech"

'Thought'

In the last chapter, Erica got the chance to reunite with her two friends that she hadn't seen in two months. After meeting back up with them, the blond got the chance to watch a battle of Brett against Keith. Even though that battle had concluded, it was time for the real finale battle.

"I want to battle against both of you." Requested Erica.

Both of her friends took that request nonchalantly. She wondered why they didn't seemed to fazed at the request before she realized why. They more than likely assumed that she wanted to battle them one at a time.

"You guys know that I am asking to battle me at the same time, right?" Now they were surprised at their friend's request. A two-on-one battle didn't seem to fair if it was just for fun.

"I'm not so sure thats a good idea." Asked Brett as he walked over to the blond champion.

"Not a full on battle, I just mean a two-on-one battle against me, using only mega-evolved pokemon." Explained Erica with a determined look. Even though these two are really important to her, she really wanted this one thing.

Brett turned to Keith with a face that was asking for help in this situation. The Kanto champion could only return the same look as his friend. Sighing, the black haired protagonist turned back to Erica.

"Are you really sure about that?" In response she gave a somewhat of an upset look, and looked down to the ground.

"You can call me selfish if you want, but I don't think that I'll satisfied until I can beat both of you."

Erica then remembered all the times that she had challenged them before, and how she was incapable of beating them. Her tenacity had driven her against them before, but it had never succeeded. This would quite possibly be her last chance to defeat the two of them.

Brett scratched the back of his head and Keith cupped his chin. The blond protagonist had no choice but to silently wish that they would say yes. Keith pulled out his holo-caster and took a look at the time.

"Our boats take off in less than an hour's worth of time." She paled a little, an answer like that sounded like she was being denied.

"...I think that we can still make it if we each only use one pokemon." Finished the Kanto champion. Following that statement, the Johto champion nodded to his younger friend.

"I guess that we have enough energy left for just one more battle." Stated Brett. Erica gave a gracious smile before bowing.

"Thank you very much!" Brett and Keith needed a few minutes to heal up their pokemon for the match. As she waited, the blond kept breathing deeply to herself for what was about to happen.

Erica watched as both trainers released their pokemon before mega-evolving them. The blonde protagonist threw out her pokeball.

Her pokemon of choice was Lucario. Both of the foreign champions were a little surprised at the presence of this fighting type.

"Where did you get that guy from?" Asked Brett. The Kalos champion gave a wide smile in return.

"A gift from Korrina." Answered Erica. She then reached her left hand out and closed her eyes. With closed eyes and a calm face, the champion invoked the mega evolution. Lucario gained his intimidating appearance for the battle.

"I, the Tenacious Fighter challenge you." Proclaimed the girl as she pointed to each of her opponents.

"The Golden Fighter accepts." Responded one calmly.

"The Blazing Fighter accepts." Answered the other one with vigor.

A silence overtook the scene. Both sides were waiting for the other to make the first move. All the mega pokemon were awaiting the orders from their trainers, any orders at all.

"Shugo, use pursuit."

"Thor, use thunderbolt."

The dog charged forward while the dragon launched the electric bolts. Even though the threats were fast approaching, the Lucario stood his ground. Erica cleared her mind for the battle, ready to formulate a counter.

"Raio, use bullet punch on Shugo." Without hesitating, the Lucario punched the Absol straight in the face to stop him from coming any closer.

"Now jump high!" Raio jumped just in time to avoid getting hit by the electric attack. The blond watched as the Absol jumped out of the way and she was a little glad. She didn't want to win by collateral damage.

Brett was a little upset at how quickly his pokemon's attack was stopped. Keith was a little surprised at the speed at which Erica was working. He decided to test it even further.

"Thor, use thunder." The Thunder dragon called forth a massive lightning bolt from a darkened cloud.

"Quick, dodge it!" The fighting type pokemon jumped into the air from the thunder attack to avoid being hit by it. The Johto champion saw an opening in midair and took advantage.

"Use pursuit." Shugo ran and jumped into air. With quick speed, he impacted into Raio and knocked the Lucario out of the air.

As the Absol landed onto the ground, the Lucario landed into a boulder. Luckily, the fighting type got back to his trainer. Erica narrowed her eyes as she remembered who her opponents are, and how good they were as well.

'It would be good thing to increase the attack stat.' Thought the Tenacious Fighter.

"Use sucker punch!" Commanded Brett.

"Focus blast." Said Keith.

"Swords dance!" Lucario took the time to increase the attack stat, so the incoming sucker punch couldn't do anything to Raio. Shugo quickly moved out of the way to avoid being hit. The resonance between pokemon and trainer was strong.

"Use your bullet punch!" Raio punched into the incoming focus blast, effectively destroying it in the process. The two champions couldn't help but feel a little proud that they helped in training Erica.

'Her training has started to pay off.' Thought Keith.

'She has gotten so much better.' Thought Brett.

The air started to blow forcing tumbleweed to roll across. The setting started to appear more like a western movie, with pokemon. Erica knew that she was supposed to be serious about this battle, but she couldn't suppress a laugh.

"Heh heh, the last time a battle was this intense was against Diantha." Noted the girl, she turned to her partner. "But I get the feeling that everyone seems to be having fun, what about you Raio?" In response, Raio barked with a smile.

Erica looked over to notice that her opponents and their pokemon were bearing the same faces. The blond girl couldn't help but feel happy that she got the chance to battle against these two again with her pokemon.

Her happiness was even more elated as she wasn't being curb-stomped like before. She looked back to Raio, the same pokemon that fought with her in her first mega battle, and the two shared a spark of understanding. Both pokemon and trainer looked back at their opponents. But the two didn't seem fazed at all, despite the current status.

'What are they planning? Are they even planning?' Thought Erica. Suddenly her narrowed eyes widened as she anticipated the incoming attack.

"Thor, intercept Raio!" The Ampharos ran up close to its enemy.

"Use close combat!" Erica decided that the best counter was to make use of the situation. But as the Lucario was about to hit his opponent, Thor high-jumped out of the way. And behind the electric dragon was a fire stream.

'They were creating an opening for Shugo's fire blast.' Thought the blond.

Raio was forced to take on the inferno, luckily for him his previous attack never hit so he wasn't dealt with the stat reduction. But the fiery pain still hurt to go through. He readied himself for the counterattack.

"Bullet punch the ground." Raio punched his fist into the ground which caused the force to knock him into the air, and towards Thor.

"And now use close combat!" As the mega fighting type ascended, he readied himself for a massive assault.

"Not so fast! Shugo, sucker punch!" With the help of his wings, the dark hound ascended into the air and swiped his left paw into Raio. With his balance off, Raio's close combat was cancelled.

All three pokemon fell back to the ground, Raio on his back. Even though she was surprised at this, Erica hadn't given up yet. The tenacious spirit of hers hadn't given up yet, and her bond with her partner had given her even more confidence to press on.

"All right, Raio use earthquake!" As he heard it loud and clear, the Lucario jumped off of his back and slammed both fists into the ground. The force didn't defeat Thor or Shugo, the bonds that they shared with their trainers pressed them on.

The blond champion looked up and noticed that their was now an opening for both of them. She flash backed to when she first challenged them to determine if they could travel together. And then again to prove herself to either of them. She lost to them both times, but her tenacity and her bonds gave her confidence to push on. Images of her medallion and her gem flashed in her mind as she prepared for the last attack.

"Shugo attack with fire blast!" The dark hound launched the flaring attack.

"Thor fire your focus blast!" The electric dragon released the focused energy.

Erica tensed up at the incoming attacks but she gave a confident grin to Raio, which he reflected back to her. And suddenly, their faces shifted to overwhelming seriousness.

"Use tenacious fist!" Raio jumped up towards the oncoming attack and was coaxed in a mighty aura that tore through both attacks, and slammed into both Thor and Shugo.

Both Brett Tairyoku and Keith Chiyoku were extremely surprised as their pokemon were simultaneously defeated in a single blow by one opponent.

Erica Tamashii stood in the same spot. Her hands trembling, and her face shocked with surprise.

The three mega pokemon fell back to the ground. In seconds, the three reverted back to their basic forms. Suddenly, Erica's face grew into a smile as she ran over to her pokemon.

"We did it!" She hugged Raio and he licked her face, causing her to laugh in the process.

"Good job Shugo." Said Brett as he returned his partner to the pokeball.

"Excellent effort Thor." Commented Keith as he gave his friend some time off.

Erica returned Raio so he could rest up. She then turned to both of her friends and ran over to them. Jumping up, she tackled the two of them into a hug.

"Thank you both so very much!" Thanked Erica.

"You did very well."

"Congratulations Erica."

Erica gave a great smile in return. Not only had she become an incredible pokemon trainer, she had also gotten to meets so many friends and pokemon. After picking her friends up, Erica knew what had to come next.

Saying goodbye.

Luckily for her, she would get a little more time as the boats were in Courmarine city. The time passed easily as they reached the eastern half of the city, and into the tram. On the way there, Erica spent some time talking about a few more things with her friends.

'I can feel it...this feeling of loss.' Thought the girl. But somehow, she felt like she could move past it.

Once arriving on the western half, they dismounted from the tram. Walking further down the docks, a split came infront of them. Brett and Keith faced in opposite directions. Erica then realized that it meant that they were supposed to take different boats.

"You two have to take different paths. Don't you?" Said Erica with a sad smile. The two didn't turn back around to face her.

"Yeah." Answered Brett quickly.

"Will you be alright?" Asked Keith.

Erica smiled with joy and nodded. "I am sad that we'll be seperating. But I feel confident because I met you two."

She reached forward and grabbed Keith's left hand, and Brett's right hand. She turned them around to face her.

"Because I got to travel with both of you, I got to see more of the world. I was able to become more confident in myself and my pokemon. And Being able to defeat you guys shows that I can go out and find my own path."

She drew her hands back and started to tear up. Her face drifted to the ground as she tried to keep her smile.

"I honestly don't want to say goodbye, but I know that we can always be friends. And our bonds will pull us back together anytime."

Erica was met with warmth in her hands she looked up to see that both of her teachers held her hands. Letting go of them, Brett placed his hand on her head, and Keith on her shoulder

"You'll do just fine on your own." Said Keith.

"Never stop believing in yourself." Said Brett.

Erica gave a pause, her face smiled as she reached forward and hugged them both again.

"Thank you both."

The whistle sounded and the hug broke. The two foreign champions ran towards the boats so they could go home. Even with tears streaming down her face, Erica's smile didn't waver at all.

She turned around to walk back to the city. As she got further away from the ocean, her pace grew faster. Before she knew it, she had left the city and traveled into the western route. Before she knew it, Erica was running. Eventually she stopped and fell to the grassy ground. Her hands were raised into the air and laughter spurred from her lips as her hands fell to the ground.

"The adventure never ends!"

_**Fin**_

Thank you for reading my story. I really appreciate it. And I most certainly hope that you liked it. If you want to, leave a guest review. See you later.


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